Posted by Hal Smith on January 30, 2001 at 17:36:50:
In Reply to: Re: A few comments on this mess posted by David Sager on January 30, 2001 at 12:40:31:
Yes, Dave--Condon sure SHOULD have been mentioned!!! I guess he did a little bit to keep the music alive, didn't he? I should have mentioned Eddie in my own list of "missing" musicians. Guess I figured he got the same fate--or worse--as the so-called "Austin High Gang" in an earlier episode.
By the way, Condon was a pretty color-blind employer wasn't he? Think of all the photos we have seen and sessions we have heard where Ed Hall, Benny Morton, Big Sid, James P., Lips Page, Willie the Lion, Cozy Cole, Sidney Bechet, Buck Clayton, Jimmy Rushing, Walter Page, Herb Hall, Rex Stewart and others were involved!!!
And Eddie was a better *player* than he gets credit for. I don't think Fats would have invited a slug to play banjo on the "Minor Drag" session, would he? And how about that great banjo playing on the original "Mahogany Hall Stomp?"
In Condon's own words, "He didn't bruise anybody."