We Called It Music: A Generation of Jazz

by Eddie Condon

Book Overview

Eddie Condon (1905-1973) pioneered a kind of jazz popularly known as Chicago-Dixieland, though musicians refer to it simply as Condon style. Played by small ensembles with driving beat, it was and is an informal, exciting music, slightly disjointed and often mischievous. The same could be said of Condon's autobiography, We Called It Music, a book widely celebrated for capturing the camaraderie of early jazz.

Condon's wit was as legendary as the music he boosted. Here is Condon on modern jazz: "The boopers flat their fifths. We consume ours." On Bix Beiderbecke: "The sound came out like a girl saying yes." On the New York subway: "It was my first ride in a sewer." When his memoir was first published-to great acclaim-in 1947, he was well known as a newspaper columnist, radio personality, saloon keeper, guitarist, and bandleader. He was the ideal man to come up with an insightful portrait of the early days of white jazz, and his book offers nonpareil accounts of many of the jazz greats of that era, including Beiderbacke, Fats Waller, Jack Teagarden, Jimmy McPartland, Gene Krupa, Bessie Smith, Louis Armstrong, and Bing Crosby.
These were the days when jazz was popularly associated with Paul Whiteman and Irving Berlin. Condon considered true jazz an outlaw music and himself an outlaw. He and his cohorts tried to get as close as possible to the black roots of jazz, a scandalous thing in the '20s. Along the way he facilitated one of the first integrated recording sessions.

We Called It Music, now published with an introduction by Gary Giddins that places the book in historical context, remains essential reading for anyone interested in the wild and restless beginnings of America's great musical art, or in the wit and vinegar of Eddie Condon.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0306804662
• ISBN13: 9780306804663
• Release Date: March 1992
• Publisher: Da Capo
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 1.02 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.8" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

If you like Jazz you will want to read this book

Maybe the book contains a little more about Eddie Condon's up-bringing and family than you would want to know, but most of it is so interesting and informative that it is hard to put it down. The basic format is for him to relate quite detailed and entertaining descriptions of groups of muscians who played together at different times in different places, and often, what they played.The hardships endured by the early and "pure" jazz musicians make one wonder how they survived. It was certainly a hand-to-mouth existence, and time and time again they had to help each other. Quite often, when some had work, others didn't, and the ways they would help each other were quite resourceful and often good for a few laughs. As Condon describes his playing days, a reader will bump into many who would become the jazz greats of our time--early in their careers when they also endured their challenges to make a living and gain fame. The book does a good job of describing how they viewed their situation and the world around them.I believe a reader will clearly learn a lot about the early history of jazz, and will be highly entertained while reading it.

A hilariously funny account of the jazz age

If you've ever heard Eddie Condon emcee, then you can imagine what to expect from this book: a witty, funny, fast-talking recollection of Condon memories. He certainly had his views and was never shy of expressing them; but he always did it with charm and ready-made punchlines. So, get yourself a book brimming over with anecdotes and giving a really lively account of what it was like in white Chicago in the twenties and New York in the thirties. Meet all of Condon's favourite musicians in Condon's writing again. His book is informative (it covers the years from his boyhood to about 1944) and entertaining at the same time. Excellent reading.