Eddie Condon

Eddie Condon was a guitarist and bandleader who helped shape what became known as Chicago-style jazz. He started playing in Chicago in the 1920s alongside musicians like Louis Armstrong and Bix Beiderbecke before moving to New York in 1927. There he worked with Red Nichols before forming his own group, Eddie Condon and His Gang, in 1938.

The band featured a rotating lineup that often included Wild Bill Davison on cornet, Pee Wee Russell on clarinet, and George Wettling on bass. They played a loose, improvisational style that kept one foot in traditional jazz while New York was developing its own sounds. Their recordings include songs like "After You've Gone," "Peg O' My Heart," and "St. Louis Blues."

Condon's group recorded live albums like "The Eddie Condon Town Hall Concert" in 1944 and "Jazz at Stuyvesant Casino" in 1950. He kept playing with various musicians through the 1950s, including Joe Bushkin and Buddy Rich at different times. The music stayed rooted in that early Chicago approach, even as jazz continued to change around it.