Eddie Condon's Chicagoans with Jack Teagarden and Gene Krupa - 30 October 1961

In late October of 1961, Eddie Condon organized a band for a scheduled performance in the "Chicago and All That Jazz" television special which was to air on 26 November on NBC TV as a DuPont Show of the Week. The group was billed as Eddie Condon's Chicagoans and Eddie was able to employ several of his original Chicagoans that first recorded in December 1927. Besides Condon, the surviving original members included cornetist Jimmy McPartland, tenor saxophonist Bud Freeman, pianist Joe Sullivan and drummer Gene Krupa. The added ringers were clarinetist Pee Wee Russell, bassist Bob Haggart and trombonist Jack Teagarden. Rehearsals commenced in late October in the form of a delayed appearance on the Today Show which aired at 7:00am each weekday. As you might imagine, many of Condon's associates were just headed to bed at 7:00am so a "live" appearance in the early morning wasn't practical. Their actual performance for the Today Show was video recorded the day before at a reasonable hour. Interestingly, none of the three songs presented herein were recorded subsequently at the band's recording session for Verve Records nor were they played in the "Chicago and All That Jazz" program. This is an All-Star band for sure and by its nature was short lived. In a sense it was a precursor to the World's Greatest Jazz Band which was formed later in the decade and had a more durable lifespan. I hope you enjoy this post.