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.


624 Pieces

Order by: Newest First | Oldest First
A Change of Keys
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Bessie Smith
As jazz became Americas music in the 1920s, the jazz vocalist had to adopt to the key, tempo and pitch changes. This is a very creative era for the...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Feb 20, 2020
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
Hot Wax
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: c1920 Recording studio
Before the mp3, Compact disc, and Long play record, Hot Wax was the medium. Vibrations of audio traveled through a recording stylus into the soft m...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Feb 28, 2020
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
Sticks
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Zutty Singelton
This program features the percussionists of the 1920s. In the earliest days they emphasized woodblocks, cowbells, China cymbals, and tom-toms rathe...

Bought by KLCC and KCBX


  • Added: Mar 06, 2020
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 2
Calling All Basses
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: The Jug
When jazz was in its infancy, the most common bass instrument was the tuba. Convenient for the marching band. Eventually, bass clarinet and saxopho...

Bought by KLCC and KCBX


  • Added: Mar 13, 2020
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 2
Detroit Gold
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Graystone Ballroom
Decades before Motown music, Motor City was a hotbed for jazz during the 1920s. Paradise Valley and Black Bottom were the ultimate destinations for...

Bought by KMUW and KCBX


  • Added: Mar 20, 2020
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 2
Minnie-the Moocher & other unusual lyrics
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Blanch Calloway
Along with the emergence of jazz came a number of songs featuring strange, funny, wild, and unexpected lyrics. Think of Vo-Do-Do-De-O-Blues, Nagasa...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Mar 27, 2020
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
Stomps & Joys
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Junie Cobb
Dozens of songs written in the 1920s are referred to “Stomps” in the title, but realistically, it can be used to mean dance. Perhaps even dance wil...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Apr 02, 2020
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
Nuggets & Gems
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: uncut fire opal
This program digs into the vaults of early jazz to find those rarely heard recordings with some well known artists like Count Basie, and some not-s...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Apr 09, 2020
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
Clarinetitus
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Omer Simeon
This is a tribute to a few of the creative clarinetists of early jazz. Two from New Orleans and one from Chicago: Johnny Dodds, Omer Simeon and Ben...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Apr 17, 2020
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
The Leaders
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Louis Armstrong
Knowledge, creativity, charisma, and endless energy are just a few qualities that make a good musical leader. If the leader can also arrange and co...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Apr 23, 2020
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
Say It Ain't So Joe
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Joe Sullivan
This program moves around the horn, as it’s called in baseball, with Joe Venuti on 1st, Joe Sullivan, 2nd, Joe Mannone on 3rd, and Joe Tardo, home ...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: May 01, 2020
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
Gabriel's Horn
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Jabbo Smith
This is a feature of those unsung heroes on trumpet and cornet in early jazz. They received little notice because there were two, at that time, who...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: May 08, 2020
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
The Sackbut
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Kid Ory
“The Misuse of the Trombone” Some music critics in the 1920s did not appreciate how the trombone was incorporated into jazz. The moans, whines, whi...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: May 15, 2020
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
Women of Jazz
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Lil Hardin Armstrong
There were several who sang with jazz groups in the 1920s, but very few composers and lyricists. Even fewer band leaders. Part of the reason was th...

Bought by KUFM - Montana Public Radio and KCBX


  • Added: May 22, 2020
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 2
Windy City Revisited
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Jelly Roll Morton
The music known as jazz originated in New Orleans, but it wasn’t until musicians migrated to Chicago that it became the popular music of the 1920s.

Bought by KCBX and KCBX


  • Added: May 29, 2020
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 2
Siblings by 7
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: George Brunies
It’s not uncommon for musical talents to run in the family, but the Brunies team of New Orleans challenged the record. Six Brothers and one sister....

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Jun 05, 2020
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
Inventive
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Adrian Rollini, Credit: Oracle Records CD label
Two stand out musicians were also accomplished inventors. Jack Teagarden and Adrian Rollini. Jack was constantly tinkering with improvements to the...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Jun 12, 2020
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
The Review
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Eubie Blake & Noble Sissle
Frequently, before a show could reach broadway, it had to pass through the musical review. This was both a vehicle for introducing new music, as we...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Jun 26, 2020
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
The Sidemen of Fletch
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Fletcher Henderson
During the 1920s and early ‘30s, Fletcher Henderson held court as supreme bandleader. His work stood out because of his uncanny ability to find you...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Jul 02, 2020
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
Paul's Circle
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Piece image
In the early years of the 1920s bandleader Paul Whiteman began experimenting with jazz. His goal was to introduce the new music to a wider audience...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Jul 10, 2020
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1

Playlists That Feature This Series: