Les Condon

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Leslie Richard "Les" Condon (born February 23, 1930 in London ; † October 30, 2007 ) was a British jazz musician ( trumpet , arrangements, composition).

Live and act

Condon self-taught trumpet as a teenager and began performing in local dance orchestras. After completing his military service, where he played with the Eager Beavers (with Monty Sunshine ), he became a professional musician in 1952. Soon he was one of Geraldo's gentlemen . As a ship musician for the Cunard Line , he sailed the North Atlantic; in the jazz clubs of 52nd Street he got to know and appreciate the bebop ; Building on the role models Dizzy Gillespie , Fats Navarro and Miles Davis experienced in New York City , they developed their own style. In 1954 he belonged like Jimmy Deuchar and Ken Wray to Tony Crombie's band , which was one of the pioneers of modern jazz in Great Britain and recorded for Decca in 1955 . Vic Lewis and Tubby Hayes also got him for recordings. Then he was part of Tony Kinsey's band, but also accompanied Woody Herman on his British tour in 1959.

In 1961 he moved briefly to Joe Harriot and was involved in his avant-garde recordings; then he recorded with Stan Tracey and continued with Hayes. Occasionally he led his own bands. He later worked as a theater musician, for example in the musical Jesus Christ Superstar . In addition, he worked as a studio musician for Georgie Fame as well as for the Beatles (" Revolver ") and from 1971 for Alexis Korner and his CCS . He continued to perform with John Dankworth , Kenny Graham , Ronnie Ross and the Art Ellefson Band, but also accompanied Ray Charles and touring jazz musicians such as Philly Joe Jones , Benny Golson , and Paul Gonsalves .

Dental problems forced Condon to give up playing the trumpet in 1990; instead he switched to playing the piano and composing.

Discographic notes

  • Tubby Hayes with the Les Condon Quartet Peter Burman Presents Jazz Tete a Tete (1966)
  • Danny Moss + Strings Like Someone in Love (1966)
  • Kenny Wheeler Windmill Tilter (1969)

Lexical entries

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Eugene Chadbourne let him die in his biographical sketch for Allmusic as early as 1983.
personal data
SURNAME Condon, Les
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Condon, Leslie Richard (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British jazz musician
DATE OF BIRTH February 23, 1930
PLACE OF BIRTH London
DATE OF DEATH October 30, 2007