the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy

Series produced by Guy Rathbun

Caption: Joe "King" Oliver
Joe "King" Oliver 

A weekly program of Music and Stories for "The Jazz Age."

Across the spectrum of pop and jazz from the late teens to the early 1930s, this weekly series from the Club McKenzie invites you the share in the talents and tales of the musicians and performers that created an unforgettable era.


627 Pieces

Order by: Newest First | Oldest First
Four is a Crowd
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Edmond Hall
The most common makeup of bands in the 1920s was five pieces: trumpet, trombone, clarinet, bass and drums. But, inventive musicians in later years ...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Nov 03, 2016
  • Length: 59:01
  • Purchases: 1
Tin Pan Jazz
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Tin Pan Alley
The Alley of Song and America’s popular music of the 1920s, jazz, crossed over in 1917. It wasn’t long before musicians began to revive compositi...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Nov 09, 2016
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
City Slickers
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Jimmy Lytell
In the early years of jazz, musicians felt inspired to write about the cities that gave them unique images of the era. After all, each location has...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Nov 16, 2016
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
Reeds A Plenty
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Sidney Bechet
Selected clarinetists and saxophonists who furthered the art of jazz improvisation in the 1920s.

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Nov 23, 2016
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
Three Part Harmony
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Piece image
The Harmonizing vocals of The Boswell Sisters and The Mills Brothers were inspired by the turn of the century barbershop quartets.

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Dec 01, 2016
  • Length: 58:59
  • Purchases: 1
Keys to the Green Room
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Jimmy Blythe
This program features five pianists who were recognized for their talents, but seldom had the chance to shine on their own (at least in jazz). They...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Dec 07, 2016
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
The Dean of Swing
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Ben Pollack
By the time Ben Pollack appeared as himself in the 1956 film The Benny Goodman Story, he was all but forgotten. Fans of early jazz remember him as ...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Dec 14, 2016
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
By Any Other Name
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: The Whoopee Makers
They were best known as The Whoopee Makers, but they had the habit of adopting new names at the drop of a hat. The Lumberjacks, Louisville Rhythm K...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Dec 21, 2016
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
1927 New Year's Eve Bash
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: 1927 New Year, Credit: Morton Poster
1927 - What a Year! The world was shrinking faster than anyone predicted.

Bought by RadioStPete Florida and KCBX


  • Added: Dec 28, 2016
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 2
Centennial Celebration: ODJB
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: The Original Dixieland Jazz Band
February 26, 1917 marks the date of the first recording of jazz. The Original Dixieland Jazz Band had the honor to be the first, but even that was ...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Jan 05, 2017
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
Fats and Satch: Thomas Fats Waller and Louis Satchmo Armstrong.
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Fats & Satchmo
Thomas 'Fats' Waller and Louis 'Satchmo' Armstrong. In many ways, they were polar opposites.

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Jan 10, 2017
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
Swing Before Swing
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Fletcher Henderson
So why are the terms “Swing Era” and Big Band Era are identified with the 1930s? Jazz big band had been around for over 16-years, and all of the mu...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Jan 18, 2017
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
On a Lighter Note
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Rosa Henderson
It took years for the jazz vocal to develop. Prior to vocalists like Eva Taylor and Louis Armstrong, pop music and vaudeville styles dominated the ...

Bought by WJSU and KCBX


  • Added: Jan 24, 2017
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 2
The Mystery of Reggie
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Reginald Foresythe
Reginald Foresythe was an inventive composer and pianist whose originality can still be heard today.

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Feb 01, 2017
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
Soundtrack Songs
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Tamil Nadu Film Producers Council (TFPC)
This program features the music of the 1920s and ‘30s that have been used in films and TV in recent years.

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Feb 08, 2017
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
At Its Zenith
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Louis Armstrong
Many jazz historians look at the development of jazz in the 1920s, and highlight 1927 and ’28 as the pinnacle.

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Feb 16, 2017
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
Kansas City Kitty
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Piece image
Kansas City was a hotbed of jazz in the 1920s. Their inventive style is heard in works the of Walter Page's Blue Devils, Andy Kirk & his 12 Clouds ...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Feb 23, 2017
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
Friday Night Fish Fry: Mardi Gras
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Mardi Gras parade
What better way to celebrate Mardi Gras than with New Orleans musicians performing the music of the Festivities.

Bought by KMUW and KCBX


  • Added: Mar 02, 2017
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 2
Can You Dance to That?
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: John Held, Jr.
In the 1920s, the answer to that question was an important factor in the success of a song. Every few weeks a new dance was introduced, and fans lo...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Mar 08, 2017
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
Ridin' in Rhythm
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Duke Ellington
1933 was a pivotal year for jazz. As far as musicians were concerned, the depression closed a lot of doors for lucrative employment, but it also op...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Mar 13, 2017
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1

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