We Called It Music

By Eddie Condon, Thomas Joseph Sugrue,

Book cover of We Called It Music: A Generation of Jazz

Book description

Eddie Condon (1905-1973) pioneered a kind of jazz popularly known as Chicago-Dixieland, though musicians refer to it simply as Condon style. Played by small ensembles with driving beat, it was and is an informal, exciting music, slightly disjointed and often mischievous. The same could be said of Condon's autobiography, We…

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

1 author picked We Called It Music as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

I highly value Condon’s ability to describe the daily anxiety and desperation of the poor jazz musicians, who constantly struggled to find work and pay the rent. He does so with great good humor. He tells a good story and he’s got a million of them, including a few about gangsters, but mostly about the many great jazz musicians like Bix Beiderbecke, whom he worked with and knew well. His many terse stories prove that brevity is the soul of wit. His dialogue is worthy of Ben Hecht—he’s good at wisecracks. I was sorry when the book came to an…

From Jeff's list on 1920s Chicago jazz musicians.

If you love We Called It Music...

Ad

Book cover of Tap Dancing on Everest: A Young Doctor's Unlikely Adventure

Tap Dancing on Everest by Mimi Zieman,

Tap Dancing on Everest, part coming-of-age memoir, part true-survival adventure story, is about a young medical student, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor raised in N.Y.C., who battles self-doubt to serve as the doctor—and only woman—on a remote Everest climb in Tibet.

The team attempts a new route up…

Want books like We Called It Music?

Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like We Called It Music.

Browse books like We Called It Music

Book cover of Really the Blues
Book cover of Jelly Roll, Bix, and Hoagy: Gennett Studios and the Birth of Recorded Jazz
Book cover of Remembering Bix: A Memoir Of The Jazz Age

Share your top 3 reads of 2024!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,989

readers submitted
so far, will you?

Ad

📚 If you like We Called It Music, you might also like...

Book cover of The Coaching Habit: Say Less, Ask More & Change the Way You Lead Forever

The Coaching Habit by Michael Bungay Stanier,

The coaching book that's for all of us, not just coaches.

It's the best-selling book on coaching this century, with 15k+ online reviews. Brené Brown calls it "a classic". Dan Pink said it was "essential".

It is practical, funny, and short, and "unweirds" coaching. Whether you're a parent, a teacher,…

Book cover of The Extraordinary Journey of David Ingram: An Elizabethan Sailor in Native North America

The Extraordinary Journey of David Ingram by Dean Snow,

An ordinary sailor named David Ingram walked 3600 miles from Mexico to Canada over the course of eleven months in 1568-9. There, he and two companions were rescued by a French ship on the Bay of Fundy. They were the first Englishmen to explore the interior of North America.

English…

5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in jazz musicians, jazz, and Chicago?

Jazz Musicians 37 books
Jazz 137 books
Chicago 402 books