Klarinet Archive - Posting 000205.txt from 2004/05

From: "Dan Leeson" <dnleeson@-----.net>
Subj: RE: [kl] Mystery jazz clarinetist
Date: Mon, 10 May 2004 18:15:31 -0400

The guitarist in photo 1 is indeed Eddie Condon as you have
suggested. In the 1940s he had a place in Greewich Village
called "Eddie Condon's" and I used to visit it. This appears to
be the place but I would not swear by it. The others are unknown
to me.

Dan Leeson
DNLeeson@-----.net

-----Original Message-----
From: Lacy, Edwin [mailto:el2@-----.edu]
Sent: Monday, May 10, 2004 2:33 PM
To: klarinet@-----.org
Subject: [kl] Mystery jazz clarinetist

<<<I'm trying to identify the clarinetist (and others) shown in
some
photos that my late father-in-law took in jazz clubs in (I think)
New
York in (I
think) the late 1930s. I've posted the photos at
http://www.bobdavenport.freeserve.co.uk/jazz. If anyone can shed
light
on this I'd be very grateful.>>>

I can't identify the clarinetist, but photo 3 appears to have
been taken
at about the time that Count Basie made some recordings with a
small
group which he called his "Kansas City Seven." That would have
been in
mid- to late-1939. This was a short-lived experiment at the
time, but
after WW II, about 1949 or 50, he again folded the big band and
toured
and recorded with a smaller group. At first this group was a
sextet,
without guitar, but he soon recalled Freddie Green to the band,
and it
also became a septet.

If this is in fact the earlier small group and if the time period
is
about right, I would suggest that the man pictured between Basie
and Jo
Jones might be trombonist Dickie Wells. The person missing from
the
photo would be the bass player, who probably would have been
Walter
Page, but there were others who played bass with Basie during
this time.

Ed Lacy
University of Evansville

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