Eddie Condon Is Uptown Now!

AMG Review of Eddie Condon Is Uptown Now!

Scott Yanow
All Music Guide

This LP has one of the most obscure of all Eddie Condon sessions. Recorded to celebrate the relocation of his club, this outing finds the rhythm guitarist leading a larger group than usual. The all-star ensembles (with cornetist Rex Stewart, trumpeter Billy Butterfield, trombonist Cutty Cutshall, clarinetist Herb Hall, tenor saxophonist Bud Freeman, Dick Cary on alto horn and trumpet, pianist Gene Schroeder, bassist Leonard Gaskin, and drummer George Wettling) perform their usual exciting brand of Chicago Dixieland. It is particularly interesting to hear the excitable Stewart in this setting. In addition to a variety of standards, such obscurities as "Ginger Brown," "Newport News" "The Albatross," and "Eddie and the Milkman" (mostly be either Freeman or Cary) add to the value of this spirited but difficult-to-find set.