Albert Edwin Condon was born in Goodland, Indiana. After some time playing ukulele, he switched to banjo and was a professional musician by 1921. He was based in Chicago for most of the 1920s, and played with such jazz notables as Bix Beiderbecke.
In 1928 Condon moved to New York City. He frequently arranged jazz sessions for various record labels, sometimes playing with the artists he brought to the recording studios, including Louis Armstrong and Fats Waller. He played with the band of Red Nichols for a time.
From the late 1930s on he was a regular at the Manhattan jazz club Nick's. The sophisticated variation on Dixieland music which Condon and his colleagues created there came to be nicknamed "Nixieland".
Condon also did a series of jazz radio broadcasts from New York Town Hall which were nationally popular.
From 1945 through 1967 he ran his own New York jazz club, "Eddie Condon's".
In 1948 his autobiography We Called It Music was published. The book has many interesting and entertaining anecdotes about musicians Condon worked with.
Condon toured and appeared at jazz festivals through 1971.
He died in New York City.