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.


620 Pieces

Order by: Newest First | Oldest First
Caption: Biderbecke & Trumbauer, Credit: Scott Chantler illistration 1931
This program is devoted to the music of corniest Bix Beiderbeck in 1927, when he and saxophonist Frankie Trumbauer teamed up. This is the year the ...

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  • Added: Nov 26, 2020
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Eddie South
Jazz fiddlers weren’t considered a core component of early jazz, yet they were a key to popularizing a new music. Eddie South, Stuff Smith, Stephan...

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  • Added: Nov 19, 2020
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Jazzy
In spite of their multiple talents, most jazz musicians in the 1920s didn’t travel to the major cities to record. Part of the reason was the limite...

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  • Added: Nov 12, 2020
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Josephine Baker
Charleston, Jitterbug, black bottom, shimmy, one-step foxtrot, waltz, tango, Breakaway and Charleston. And don’t forget the Grizzly Bear, Turkey Tr...

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  • Added: Nov 05, 2020
  • Length: 58:59
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Mary Lou Williams
Eighty-eight keys spanning 7-plus octaves, endless variations and creative styles. This program takes you from ragtime to stride and opens the door...

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  • Added: Oct 29, 2020
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Buddy Bolden
In the more than 150 years of Mardi Gras there was a king. Each crew or tribe had their king, and the overall parade was represented by a King and ...

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  • Added: Oct 22, 2020
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Woody Walder
This program highlights the musicians who performed with Benny Moten’s Kansas City Orchestra. The swinging, bluesy sound that became known as “Kans...

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  • Added: Oct 16, 2020
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: McKinney's Cotton Pickers
A creative explosion occurred in the world of jazz in the years between WWI and the Great Depression. The electrical process allowed the musicians ...

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  • Added: Oct 09, 2020
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: blanche Calloway
This program provides a glimpse into the careers of four of the most influential female vocalists in early jazz. Ethel Waters, Eva Taylor, Blanche ...

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  • Added: Oct 02, 2020
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 2
Caption: Lil Hardin
This program features the pianists who were instrumental in melding popular music and jazz in the 1920s. Without their influence, American’s origin...

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  • Added: Sep 25, 2020
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Earl Hines
This program features those pianists whose work influenced the future of jazz. In the late 1920s, it was Earl Hines. His experimentations revoluti...

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  • Added: Sep 18, 2020
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Seger Ellis
Three major happenings occurred in early jazz vocal. First the art of Crooning became popular, male vocalists singing romantic songs. The second - ...

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  • Added: Sep 11, 2020
  • Length: 59:00
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Caption: Lonnie Johnson
The blues, as it’s called, evolved decades before jazz. Consequently, the blues and jazz coexisted and melded over the years. The original eight an...

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  • Added: Sep 04, 2020
  • Length: 59:00
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Caption: Fate Marable Orchestra
The title is borrowed from a Hoagy Carmichael tune written when he was in college. It’s a tribute to those talented musicians who are always on the...

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  • Added: Aug 27, 2020
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Lew Leslie playbill
Lew Leslie began his career in vaudeville. He was in impressionist. The he broadened his talents by staging broadway reviews. Over time, he introdu...

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  • Added: Aug 21, 2020
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Jimmy Noone
As jazz evolved in the early decades of the 1900s, the trumpet became the natural leader, however, there were a few bands that flew in the in anot...

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  • Added: Aug 14, 2020
  • Length: 59:00
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Caption: New York City, 1923
Although there were several areas around the country that were popular spots for jazz in the 1920s, New York City stood out as the ultimate destina...

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  • Added: Aug 07, 2020
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Aeriol Piano c.1920
As jazz pianists arrived in Chicago and New York in the 1920s, they found that their income could be lucratively increased by cutting piano rolls. ...

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  • Added: Jul 31, 2020
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Djangology
Guitarist Django Reinhardt emerged from obscurity in the early 1930s with the accidental formation of a string quartet. Violinist Stephane Grappell...

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  • Added: Jul 24, 2020
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Miff Mole
When Miff Mole came to the Jazz scene in 1919, he was already an accomplished trombonist. As a pioneer artist of the era, he was the first trombon...

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  • Added: Jul 16, 2020
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1