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.


623 Pieces

Order by: Newest First | Oldest First
Moten to Basie
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Benny Moten
Benny Moten led the Kansas City Orchestra in the 1920s, arguably the most influential big bands of the era. His arrangements helped to create what...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Dec 28, 2012
  • Length: 58:55
  • Purchases: 1
Cab & Blanche
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Blanche Calloway
Although Blanche Calloway began her show business career several years earlier than younger brother Cabell, she was at least in popularity surpasse...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Jan 06, 2013
  • Length: 58:57
  • Purchases: 1
Ikey
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Banjo Ikey Robinson
Isaac L. “Banjo Ikey” Robinson was a multi instrumentalist jazz musician who specialized on banjo. Even when most musicians had stuffed their banjo...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Jan 15, 2013
  • Length: 58:56
  • Purchases: 1
Jabbo
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Cladys "Jabbo" Smith
Cladys "Jabbo" Smith is one of the finest exponents of early jazz trumpet, yet he is overshadowed by Louis Armstrong, Bix Beiderbecke, and many oth...

Bought by WNCU and KCBX


  • Added: Jan 18, 2013
  • Length: 58:56
  • Purchases: 2
The Belles of the Blues
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Alberta Hunter
The four blues vocalists in this hour are not well known. That certainly doesn’t mean they aren’t worthy of praise and recognition: Alberta Hunter...

Bought by KMUW, KBBI Alaska, WMMT, WJSU, and KCBX


  • Added: Jan 28, 2013
  • Length: 58:57
  • Purchases: 5
Perry Bradford's Jazz Phools
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: 1920s Race Record label
Singer, songwriter, pianist, singer and vaudeville and minstrel performer Perry Bradford, forever changed the sound of American popular music by co...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Feb 05, 2013
  • Length: 58:54
  • Purchases: 1
It's About Eubie
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Young Eubie Blake
The music of american legend James Hubert "Eubie" Blake. Pianist, composer, vocalist, and a man who could reinvent himself as times demanded.

Bought by KMUW, WVIA, KCBX, and KCBX


  • Added: Feb 13, 2013
  • Length: 58:56
  • Purchases: 4
Chicago's Nightlife
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Dreamland Ballroom, Credit: 1923 poster
There is the Near South Side, The Loop, Uptown, and South Side. The hot spots for finding jazz clubs and speakeasies will to violate prohibition d...

Bought by WDCB and KCBX


  • Added: Feb 20, 2013
  • Length: 58:58
  • Purchases: 2
The Songsters
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: George & Ira Gershwin
Tin Pan Alley, near Union Square in New York City, became the center for music publishing by 1915. The world of formulaic songwriting – songs with ...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Feb 27, 2013
  • Length: 58:58
  • Purchases: 1
Fud Livingston
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Fud Livingston
Joseph Anthony Livingston, nicknamed “Fud,” played accordion and piano in his youth. But, in his teens, he found the saxophone more to his liking. ...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Mar 04, 2013
  • Length: 58:57
  • Purchases: 1
Hidden Messages (Pledge Drive Special)
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Louis Armstrong
As far back as the 1920s, jazz bands were performing music that had hidden messages inside their songs. Messages that asked their audience to pled...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Mar 12, 2013
  • Length: 49:30
  • Purchases: 1
The Wordsmiths
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Irving Caesar
This program features those wonderfully talented lyricists of the 1920s who created such memorial songs as "Margie," "You Took Advantage of Me," "T...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Mar 21, 2013
  • Length: 58:57
  • Purchases: 1
Pee Wee
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Pee Wee Russell
Although he hailed from St. Louis, Charles Ellsworth “Pee Wee” Russell took his clarinet cues from New Orleans. Only now is he beginning to be reco...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Mar 26, 2013
  • Length: 58:57
  • Purchases: 1
Laughing in Rhythm
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: John Held Jr.
Laughter is the best medicine. But, it feels that today's musicians may be taking themselves too seriously. Here are selections from the 1920s to t...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Apr 02, 2013
  • Length: 58:57
  • Purchases: 1
The Odd Couple
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Milton "Mezz" Mezzrow
Sidney Bechet was one of the early jazz virtuosos. Born in New Orleans, he began his professional career long before jazz was put to wax. Then the...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Apr 10, 2013
  • Length: 58:57
  • Purchases: 1
The Uke
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Cliff Edwards with Ukelele
The ukulele became as commonplace in the American parlor as the piano in the 1920s. Today we think of the tiny guitar as a Hawaiian instrument, whe...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Apr 17, 2013
  • Length: 58:57
  • Purchases: 1
Billy Cotton: That Rhythm Man
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Bandleader Billy Cotton
Despite the vast popularity of "That Rhythm Man," as Billy Cotton was known, his recognition did not reach the states like the bands lead by Ambros...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Apr 22, 2013
  • Length: 58:57
  • Purchases: 1
The Hawk: 40-years with Coleman Hawkins
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Piece image
He is considered the first great tenor saxophonist in jazz. The first signs of Coleman Hawkins’ potential began to show when he was still a child.

Bought by KCBX, KMUW, and KCBX


  • Added: Apr 30, 2013
  • Length: 58:58
  • Purchases: 3
The Kid
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Kid Ory
By 1911, tailgate trombonist Kid Ory was leading one of the best-known bands in New Orleans. Eight years later he formed a successful band in Los A...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: May 06, 2013
  • Length: 58:57
  • Purchases: 1
Puttin' On the Ritz
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Irving Berlin
Composer and lyricist Jerome Kern summed up the life and work of Israel Baline (Irving Berlin) when he said, “Irving Berlin has no place in America...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: May 15, 2013
  • Length: 58:59
  • Purchases: 1

Playlists That Feature This Series: