A JAZZ SHRINE, DEEPLY MISSED, FONDLY REMEMBERED

By the time I had become deeply involved in the world Eddie Condon and Milt Gabler had created for all time, it was in some ways too late.

I was able to see Eddie in person three times in 1972, but when I bought my remaindered copy of EDDIE CONDON’S WORLD OF JAZZ (in 1967) the Commodore Music Shop had already been replaced by some anonymous urban architecture.

So I am very grateful that the Hagley Library has posted photographs by Victor DePalma in its exhibition.  You’d hardly expect that “100 Years of Picturing the Nation’s Business: Photographs from the Collection of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America” would be so stirring, but what a delightful surprise.  DePalma’s photographs were first seen in a 1950 article in NATION’S BUSINESS (the magazine of the Chamber of Commerce) on, of all things, record collectors.

Here is the link.

And two of the photos — there are five on the site, so please do visit.

Were it there today, I would feel a deep urge to go in there and bow.  Reverently.  It’s not just the “records” — it’s the love of the music made tangible through the faith and enthusiasm of Milt and Eddie and their friends and families.

I think I have written more than once that I am a serious Commodorian (although raised as a secular Jew) . . . on my cork bulletin board at work, in fading green sleeves, I have JADA and TAPPIN’ THE COMMODORE TILL.  (When all seems dark, I gaze at those labels.)

This one’s for Maggie and Liza and all the men and women who make Commodore-flavored music to lift our spirits.

May your happiness increase.

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