PRX - Pieces for Topic: Historical

Can't find it? Try Advanced Search
View by:

164 results


Caption: Milton "Mezz" Mezzrow
Sidney Bechet was one of the early jazz virtuosos. Born in New Orleans, he began his professional career long before jazz was put to wax. Then the...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Apr 10, 2013
  • Length: 58:57
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Pee Wee Russell
Although he hailed from St. Louis, Charles Ellsworth “Pee Wee” Russell took his clarinet cues from New Orleans. Only now is he beginning to be reco...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Mar 26, 2013
  • Length: 58:57
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Irving Caesar
This program features those wonderfully talented lyricists of the 1920s who created such memorial songs as "Margie," "You Took Advantage of Me," "T...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Mar 21, 2013
  • Length: 58:57
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Fud Livingston
Joseph Anthony Livingston, nicknamed “Fud,” played accordion and piano in his youth. But, in his teens, he found the saxophone more to his liking. ...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Mar 04, 2013
  • Length: 58:57
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: George & Ira Gershwin
Tin Pan Alley, near Union Square in New York City, became the center for music publishing by 1915. The world of formulaic songwriting – songs with ...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Feb 27, 2013
  • Length: 58:58
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Dreamland Ballroom, Credit: 1923 poster
There is the Near South Side, The Loop, Uptown, and South Side. The hot spots for finding jazz clubs and speakeasies will to violate prohibition d...

Bought by WDCB and KCBX


  • Added: Feb 20, 2013
  • Length: 58:58
  • Purchases: 2
Caption: Young Eubie Blake
The music of american legend James Hubert "Eubie" Blake. Pianist, composer, vocalist, and a man who could reinvent himself as times demanded.

Bought by KMUW, WVIA, KCBX, and KCBX


  • Added: Feb 13, 2013
  • Length: 58:56
  • Purchases: 4
Caption: Cladys "Jabbo" Smith
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


  • Added: Jan 18, 2013
  • Length: 58:56
  • Purchases: 2
Caption: Banjo Ikey Robinson
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


  • Added: Jan 15, 2013
  • Length: 58:56
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: "42nd Street" by Warren
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


  • Added: Dec 19, 2012
  • Length: 58:55
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Bix Beiderbecke
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


  • Added: Dec 06, 2012
  • Length: 58:57
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Miff Mole & Red Nichols
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


  • Added: Nov 09, 2012
  • Length: 58:57
  • Purchases: 2
Caption: Cole Porter
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


  • Added: Nov 02, 2012
  • Length: 58:57
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Wolverines with Min Leibrook, sax
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...

  • Added: Oct 11, 2012
  • Length: 58:53
Caption: Segar Ellis
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...

  • Added: Sep 21, 2012
  • Length: 58:54
Caption: Art Hodes
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...

  • Added: Sep 14, 2012
  • Length: 58:52
Caption: 1920s dancers
Remember Dick Powell the actor? How about Dick Powell the jazz banjo player? He’s just one of many obscure early jazz performers heard in this pro...

  • Added: Aug 21, 2012
  • Length: 58:55
Caption: Coleman Hawkins
The duet of Henry "Red" Allen and Coleman "The Bean" Hawkins, 1933.

  • Added: Aug 10, 2012
  • Length: 58:52
Caption: Clarence Williams
Shining shoes to music publishing in a few short years. To Clarence Williams it may have seen much longer. By 1910, he was considered a leading s...

  • Added: Jul 26, 2012
  • Length: 58:57
Caption: Muggsy Spanier, Credit: photo by Charles Peterson
The origin of his nickname is disputed. Regardless of the reasons, Francis Joseph Julian Spanier was simply known as Muggsy. Before Bix Beiderbeck...

  • Added: Jul 12, 2012
  • Length: 58:59
Piece image
Here is one of the overlooked jazz pianists who, if he's lived beyond his 30-years, would rank with Early Hines and Count Basie. Very little is kn...

  • Added: Jun 09, 2012
  • Length: 01:01:02
Caption: John Held Jr.
Whenever bandleader Ed Kirkeby wanted his band to record for another label, he’d tag them with another name. Hence: The Golden Gate Orchestra. An...

  • Added: May 18, 2012
  • Length: 58:56
Caption: Mr. Jones on the course, Credit: Mason Sand
A collection of sounds and voices from William Devine Golf course, one of America's oldest public courses, located in inner-city Boston in the hear...

  • Added: May 16, 2012
  • Length: 01:55
Caption: Eddie Condon
New Orleans, Chicago and New York were the primary hubs for jazz by the mid 1920s. The influences from each location enriched the result. Musicians...

Bought by WDCB


  • Added: May 10, 2012
  • Length: 58:59
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Frankie Teschmacher
When Kansas City born Frankie Teschmacher joined the Austin High Gang in the mid-1920s, his instrument of choice was alto saxophone. But, in his yo...

  • Added: Apr 26, 2012
  • Length: 58:57