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.


644 Pieces

Order by: Newest First | Oldest First
Shaw's Expressions
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Joel Shaw & his Orchestra
In 1925, pianist Joel Shaw became vast friends with bandleader Gene Kardos. They clicked. Their style had elements of jazz, society dance band and ...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Oct 11, 2019
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
The Brit's Are Here
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Arthur Lally, reed artist
It seems that before jazz became popular in America, the British were ready to adopt the new music. Even the Prince of Whales got into the act by b...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Oct 03, 2019
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
Who's Calling?
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Cornet Red Nichols
Musicians were known to violate their recordings contracts fairly regularly in the 1920s. It’s the old story that the talent was underpaid. So, it ...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Sep 27, 2019
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
Serioiusly
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Andy Kirk 78 rpm recxord label
In the first two decades of jazz, light-heartedness and hokum were prevalent. It wasn’t until the late 1930s that musicians decided to become more ...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Sep 20, 2019
  • Length: 58:59
  • Purchases: 1
Location, Location
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Cow Cow Davenport
Your environment is your identity. That’s exactly why so many tunes in early jazz were written about the street that inspires the song. Naming a mu...

Bought by KCBX and KCBX


  • Added: Sep 13, 2019
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 2
Down the Mississippi
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Mississippi River map
It wasn’t just products, livestock and people transported up and down the Mississippi in the 1920s. It was also music. Specifically jazz. A vast ma...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Sep 05, 2019
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
Before Swing
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Noble Sissle
The year officially tagged as the debut of “the Swing Era” was late summer of 1935. What can be confusing with that demarcation is acknowledging th...

Bought by KCBX and KCBX


  • Added: Aug 29, 2019
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 2
The Clarion Call
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Jabbo Smith
The legendary jazz trumpeter Buddy Bolden reportedly set the standard by which all early performers strived to attain. That’s the legend. Since not...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Aug 15, 2019
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
Burgundy Beginnings
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Burgundy Street sign
The musical traditions that emerged from New Orleans found roots around the world by the late 1920s. It took some time for Tin Pan Alley and Broadw...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Aug 22, 2019
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
You're Tops
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Cole Porter
It seems that in the 1920s … at least in high society circles … it was very common for people to compliment each other, profusely. In fact, it was ...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Aug 08, 2019
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
Digging for Gold
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: ODJB
With jazz coming on the scene in the 1920s, composers began reaping big rewards. The public simply couldn’t get enough of the new music, and anyone...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Aug 01, 2019
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
Great Collaborations
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Coon Sanders Nighthawks
When pianist Earl Hines was added to any band, they seemed to quickly excel. When Don Redman or Bill Challis became the arranger for any orchestra,...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Jul 25, 2019
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
Migrating East
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: The Missourians
After leaving New Orleans in 1917, some brief stops in St. Louis and Kansas City, jazz musicans landed in Chicago. From there, many of them moved o...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Jul 18, 2019
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
Sax Appeal
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: 1920s Saxophonists
The saxophone was invented in the early 1800s, but wasn’t well received until the early 1900s. Then it became a staple in jazz. The most influentia...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Jul 11, 2019
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
Footloose
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Charleston sheet music
Let’s see … Foxtrot, Black Bottom, Shimmy, Charleston, The Baltimore, Lindy Hop (previously, Texas Tommy), Turkey Trot, One-step, Shimmy, and later...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Jul 03, 2019
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
A String of Pearls
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Jelly Roll Morton
In the latter 1920s, jazz enthusiasts began to hear a very different style introduced into their favorite music. Although the overall sound remaine...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Jun 27, 2019
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
The Musical Review
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Shuffle Along 1924
The best way to have your music heard in the 1920s was to present it on stage, on or off Broadway. Selling sheet music goes just so far, and radio ...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Jun 14, 2019
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
The Talking Trumpet
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Cootie Williams
Musical instruments have been used for creative imagery as long as anyone can remember, so it’s not surprising that jazz ushered in a new and color...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Jun 07, 2019
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
Suitcase & Woodblocks
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Warren "Baby" Dodds
The evolution of jazz traps that accompanied the drums began in about 1880, no one knows for sure …however the first recorded evidence is not heard...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: May 30, 2019
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
Who's Back There?
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Bessie Smith
As jazz evolved, musicians began experimenting with improvisation behind the vocalist. Band members wanted their accompaniment to sound as fresh an...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: May 16, 2019
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1

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