the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Series produced by Guy Rathbun
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
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
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
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
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
Some of the best music from the 1920s with Louis Armstrong, Fletcher Henderson, Bix Beiderbecke, and many more to welcome in the New Year.
Bought by KRZA, KHEN-LP, and KCBX
Composer Harry Warren is best remembered for the music he wrote for Judy Garland, and the musicals, 42nd Street and The Gold Diggers, however, long...
Bought by KCBX
Jody and Susie Edwards were apparently married on stage at the Standard Theatre, Philadelphia. They went on perform for several decades billing th...
Bought by KCBX
During Bix Beiderbecke’s years of recording, there were literally hundreds of sound-alike trumpeters and cornet players. They all wanted to sound l...
Bought by KCBX
Thomas “Fats” Waller was known for his comedic style vocals, and his feverish motions of left hand creating a profound pattern of “Stride” piano, b...
Bought by KCBX
Saxophonist Jack Pettis was a pioneer in the introduction of the C-Melody in the early 1920s. According to tenor Bud Freeman, he was the king, and ...
Bought by KCBX
Trombonist Miff Mole and trumpeter Red Nichols, two highly talented jazz musicians, met in New York in the early 1920s. Together they prefected wh...
Bought by WNCU and KCBX
American icon Cole Porter learned piano and violin at age six. He became very good at both, but he disliked the violin's harsh sound and so his ene...
Bought by KCBX
The Apex Club was raided by federal agents and closed for selling alcohol during Prohibition in 1930. Just before that fateful day, New Orleans nat...
Bought by WDCB and KCBX
Bandleader Andy Kirk gave up his post office carrier in 1925 to try his hand in music. He showed talent on the saxophone and tuba, but it evolved t...
Bought by KCBX
California’s influence on early jazz is not a trifling matter. Several musicians emerged from the Golden State to lustrous careers.
Bought by KCBX
In the earliest jazz bands of the 1920s, the baritone and bass saxophones were relegated to the rhythm section, the bass line. But everything bega...
The legend of musician Buddy Bolden has stretched well beyond the city limits of New Orleans. Whether or not half of the stories are true, really d...
Bought by WRGY and Troy Public Radio
They were known as the big band of the 1920s who sounded a little “country.” Not because they were from Nashville, nor did they have a twang in th...
Bought by KMUN
Ellis was first a jazz pianist and later jazz vocalist who recorded numerous sides with the Dorsey Brothers, Eddie Lang, Joe Venuti, and many other...
Some of the earliest Blue Note recording sessions featured the trumpet of Sidney DeParis, clarinet of Edmund Hall, and piano of Art Hodes. They ca...
