PRX - Pieces for Topic: African-American

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Classic Blues
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Blind Blake
The original blues recordings from the 1920s featuring artists from the Delta to the Father of Texas Blues.

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Mar 17, 2015
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
First Novel to TV Series: Author Jason Mott and “The Returned"
From: Diana Korte
Series: Booktalk
Piece image
Jason’s first novel was inspired by a dream in which his late mother visited him. He goes on to describe his day job while he was writing the book ...

Bought by KCMJ Community Radio and KSVR Studios: Skagit Valley Radio


  • Added: Feb 19, 2015
  • Length: 09:55
  • Purchases: 2
South Side Serenaders
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: 1920s Chicago
It's the rough and tumble 1920s Chicago’s speakeasies. You had to have a password to gain entrance through a side door.

Bought by WDCB, Radio New Zealand, and KCBX


  • Added: Feb 17, 2015
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 3
Tiny's Triads
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Tiny Parham, Credit: Swaggie Records
Although mostly forgotten today, Hartzell "Tiny" Parham is known as one of the pioneers of Chicago style jazz of the 1920s

Bought by WDCB and KCBX


  • Added: Jan 19, 2015
  • Length: 58:59
  • Purchases: 2
From Bessie to Billie
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Bessie Smith
The cornerstones for this program: Bessie Smith and Billie Holiday featuring several artists who benefited from the breakthrough recordings of Mami...

Bought by KMUW and KCBX


  • Added: Dec 03, 2014
  • Length: 58:59
  • Purchases: 2
Jelly's Keys
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Jelly Roll Morton
Ferdinand “Jelly Roll Morton” LaMothe was among the elite, privileged few of the Creole population of New Orleans. Although the heyday of the city ...

Bought by KMUW and KCBX


  • Added: Oct 26, 2014
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 2
The Early Mills Brothers
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: The Mills Brothers
From winning an amateur contest at Piqua's May's Opera House in the 1920s to the rise of rock and roll in the early fifties and their number one hi...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Oct 04, 2014
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
Bow Ties
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Winold Riess
When jazz enthusiasts think of early violin performances, they may naturally land upon the name Joe Venuti. Indeed, Joe was one of the earliest, bu...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Sep 17, 2014
  • Length: 58:59
  • Purchases: 1
A Tale of Three Cities
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Luis Russell
A native of Panama, Luis Russell moved to New Orleans in 1919 after winning a $3000 lottery. He became a mainstay house pianist. But, in 1925 he mo...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Jun 17, 2014
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
Quality Serenaders
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Lionel Hampton
Paul Howard’s Quality Serenaders should be better known. But, they’re not. Part of the reason is their geographical location: Los Angeles - 1929. A...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Jun 03, 2014
  • Length: 58:59
  • Purchases: 1
Louie's Lament
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Louis Armstrong
In the early years of recordings, Louis Armstrong became a trailblazing pioneer in the art of accompanying blues singers. I wasn’t as easy as it ma...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: May 20, 2014
  • Length: 58:57
  • Purchases: 1
The Southwest
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Champion Records label
Overlooked as a gathering place for hot jazz in the 1920s, the Southwest sported some excellent musicians. Many went on to successful careers in th...

Bought by Radio New Zealand and KCBX


  • Added: May 07, 2014
  • Length: 58:56
  • Purchases: 2
The Blackbirds of 1928
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Blackbirds Sheet Music
The review, Lew Leslie’s Blackbirds of 1928, opened at the Liberty Theatre on 42nd Street in May of that year.

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Apr 16, 2014
  • Length: 58:58
  • Purchases: 1
Connie's Hot Chocolates
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Fats Waller
Connie’s Hot Chocolates opened at the Hudson Theater, 44th Street east of Broadway, on June 20, 1929. It was a slice of Harlem nightlife.

Bought by KZYX and KCBX


  • Added: Mar 13, 2014
  • Length: 58:58
  • Purchases: 2
Mamie Smith
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Mamie Smith
She billed herself as “The Queen of the Blues.” But, technically, she wasn’t a blues singer.

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Jan 12, 2014
  • Length: 58:57
  • Purchases: 1
Tupac Shakur on Life and Death
From: Blank on Blank
Series: Blank on Blank
Piece image
"I feel like a tragic hero in a Shakespeare play" - Tupac Shakur in 1994. From an unheard interview recorded by Benjamin Svetkey, then a writer for...

Bought by KBCS 91.3 FM Community Radio, KVNF, KJZZ, PRX Remix, and KALW


  • Added: Dec 04, 2013
  • Length: 06:15
  • Purchases: 5
Joe Robichaux & his New Orleans Boys
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Joe Robichaux
On the one had, you can say that pianist and arranger Joe Robichaux was a New Orleans musician, on the other, his unique sound set him apart from h...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Oct 24, 2013
  • Length: 58:57
  • Purchases: 1
Duke’s Domain part 2
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Duke Ellington
In the 1920s, Ellington performed in nightclubs as the bandleader of a sextet, a group that in time grew to a 10-piece ensemble. The nucleus of thi...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Oct 12, 2013
  • Length: 58:57
  • Purchases: 1
Duke's Domain part 1
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington called his music "American Music" rather than jazz, and described those who impressed him as "beyond category. "He is widely conside...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Oct 07, 2013
  • Length: 58:57
  • Purchases: 1
The Expatriate - Sam Wooding
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Sam Wooding Band
Once you hear the music of Sam Wooding and his Chocolate Dandies you, too, will be curious why his work is not as familiar to connoisseurs of early...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Sep 23, 2013
  • Length: 58:57
  • Purchases: 1
The Folly of Fats part 1
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Fats Waller
Thomas Wright ‘Fats’ Waller is one of the few who can be called a legend during his lifetime, even though it was all too short: 39 years. Here he ...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Sep 08, 2013
  • Length: 58:57
  • Purchases: 1
Johnny Dodds Tribute part 1
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Johnny Dodds
Johnny Dodds was one of the greatest clarinetist of the 1920's. Although both Jimmy Noone and Sidney Bechet had better technique, Dodds had a very ...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Aug 23, 2013
  • Length: 58:56
  • Purchases: 1
Lonnie's League
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Lonnie Johnson
Pioneering blues and jazz guitarist Lonnie Johnson began playing professionally in New Orleans in 1917. He toured Europe with Marion Cook’s Souther...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Jul 26, 2013
  • Length: 58:58
  • Purchases: 1
Rhythm Kings
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Washboard Rhythm Kings
When washboard was King. Well, that may be a stretch, but the popularity of that musical instrument, when it was used as such, reached a height in...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Jun 24, 2013
  • Length: 58:57
  • Purchases: 1
Exploring the Keys
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Scott Joplin
This program is devoted to those pioneers of jazz piano from Scott Joplin to Thomas ‘Fats’ Waller.

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Jun 07, 2013
  • Length: 58:57
  • Purchases: 1