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.


603 Pieces

Order by: Newest First | Oldest First
The Pioneers
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Frank Guarenti
By 1910 jazz is still without a name. The music, you might say, is just coming of age. Experimentation is the key. And New Orleans musicians are se...

Bought by GCR (Global Community Radio) and KCBX


  • Added: Jul 07, 2023
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 2
Small Black Bands of the 1920s
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Syd Valentine
When Chicago became the great musical center for jazz, there were many small bands to be heard in the South Side. It became a hub of creativity. An...

Bought by GCR (Global Community Radio) and KCBX


  • Added: Jun 29, 2023
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 2
Small White Bands of the '20s
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Adrian Rollini
They were inspired by the music emanating from New Orleans. First it was the riverboats that brought jazz north, but with the massive immigration o...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Jun 21, 2023
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
Jazz in Europe
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Sam Wooding
The introduction of jazz to European society before the 1920s is a complex story. While it was met with both enthusiasm and resistance, its influen...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Jun 15, 2023
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
Three of the Best
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Coleman Hawkins
Coleman Hawkins, Benny Carter, and Ben Webster. Each left an indelible mark on jazz, with their distinct styles and contributions to the developmen...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Jun 07, 2023
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
A Bite of the Big Apple
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: The Back Room, NYC
It was one of the most infamous times in the history of New York. The city became the hub of a new emerging music: jazz, and the Big Apple was the ...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Jun 02, 2023
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
Chicago Rarities
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Lovie Austin
When the New Orleans community of Storyville was shuttered in 1917, musicians began traveling north to find work. No one could have been prepared f...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: May 26, 2023
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
The Musical Review
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Paul Robeson
At the turn of the century, 1900, entertainment promoters discovered the value of staging musical reviews for introducing musical scores. In order ...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: May 19, 2023
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
The Jam Session
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Natty Dominique
The Jam Session: It’s the proving ground for a musician. That’s where you test your chops. Your creativity. For 1920s jazz performers, these sessio...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: May 12, 2023
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
Satchmo & Duke
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Armstrong & Ellington
They could not have been more opposite in their approach to jazz. Yet, Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington had identical goals. Provide the best mus...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: May 04, 2023
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
Syncopated Ladies
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Valida Snow
Women have made vast contributions to the history of early jazz. Not only as vocalists, but as musicians, bandleaders, composers and lyricists. Unf...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Apr 27, 2023
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
They Played 'till Dawn
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: 1929 House Rent party
Harlem Stride piano, boogie and skiffle were all created by the house rent party. Hosts opened up their apartments for a night, charging a fee to g...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Apr 21, 2023
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
Poetic Notions
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Irving Berlin
Tin Pan Alley songsters were quick to pick up on the popularity of jazz in the 1920s. And, the lyricists, like Irving Berlin, Harold Arlen and Hoag...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Apr 14, 2023
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
Storyville
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Storyville
At the edge of the New Orleans French Quarter at the turn of the twentieth century Storyville kick started jazz. There are a couple of reasons for ...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Apr 06, 2023
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
Ferdinand's Influence
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Jelly Roll Morton
Ferdinand’s Influence: Although his name is well known in the history of early jazz, he’s seldom named as a major player. Jelly Roll Morton. Yet, ...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Mar 31, 2023
  • Length: 59:01
  • Purchases: 1
Behind the Scenes
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Eddie Condon
Take a look behind the scenes. For every musical note, there’s a story. For every chapter, there’s an encyclopedia. Hear stories from guitarist and...

Bought by Northwest Public Broadcasting and KCBX


  • Added: Mar 24, 2023
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 2
Place to Place
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: 1920s record shop
Interesting that there was an abundance of songs in the 1920s about places: streets, venues, cities and states. The musicians identified, through t...

Bought by Northwest Public Broadcasting and KCBX


  • Added: Mar 17, 2023
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 2
A Decade Like No Other
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Bill 'Bojangles' Robinson
Twenty years into the 19th Century there was a string of something new. Cars, fashion, flight, and the arts and entertainment, including talking mo...

Bought by KCBX and Northwest Public Broadcasting


  • Added: Mar 09, 2023
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 2
Reeds-A-Plenty Part 2
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Jimmy Dorsey
This program takes us through the later 1920s to the ‘30s, with the clarinet of Jimmy Dorsey’s creativity to the influence of tenor saxophone of Co...

Bought by KCBX and Northwest Public Broadcasting


  • Added: Mar 02, 2023
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 2
Reeds-A-Plenty
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Omer Simeon
As jazz evolved over its first decade, the clarinet was the primary wind-instrument. But, when the music reached Chicago, the saxophone, more speci...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Feb 23, 2023
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1

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