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.


627 Pieces

Order by: Newest First | Oldest First
Benny & the Gang
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Benny Goodman
One of the best orchestra leaders and talented clarinetist is how Benny Goodman is remembered.

Bought by KCBX, KCBX, and KALW


  • Added: Jan 09, 2019
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 3
Music is My Mistress
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Piece image
At the end of his illustrious 50-year career in music, Duke Ellington wrote his biography. It’s a behind the scenes plethora of information about h...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Jan 02, 2019
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
Best of the Year 1928
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: New Year's Eve Party
This program is a New Year’s celebration of jazz in 1928.

Bought by KALW and KCBX


  • Added: Dec 25, 2018
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 2
Tympani Rarities
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Vic Berton
Experimentation and inventiveness found common ground in early jazz. That was especially true in the world of percussion.

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Dec 13, 2018
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
Island Jazz
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Sam Ku West
Music from the Hawaiian Islands is distinct. Their steel and slack string guitars set them apart from everyone else.

Bought by KUGS Bellingham, Wash. and KCBX


  • Added: Dec 06, 2018
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 2
They Were Then
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Sonny Clay & his Band
Songs that were popular among the musicians, may not have been big sellers. Consequently, there are a bunch of songs that are completely forgotten,...

Bought by KMUN and KCBX


  • Added: Nov 29, 2018
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 2
Sweet Tones of the Clarinet
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Frank Teschmacher
There were dozens of early jazz clarinetist, a few of whom stood out as true pioneers. Those are the artists with rhythm, fluidity, expression and ...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Nov 21, 2018
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
Uptown NYC
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Connie's Inn & Tree of Hope
Driving north from New York City to Harlem in the 1920s was quite a challenge. Even though only about 10 miles separated the two cities, the numbe...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Nov 15, 2018
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
Fifty Years of IAJRC
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: IAJRC Volume II
Fifty years ago the International Association of Jazz Record Collectors began publishing the Journal devoted to early jazz.

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Nov 08, 2018
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
Setting the Stage
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Fletcher Henderson
The Big Bands were in full swing by the mid-1930s, but the name least remembered is the leader who provided the inspiration: Fletcher Henderson. He...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Nov 01, 2018
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
Pops Influence
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Paul Whiteman
With today’s hindsight, bandleader Paul Whiteman has been both criticized and praised for his influence in early jazz. Yet, he was the first to hav...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Oct 25, 2018
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
52nd Street
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Piece image
Also known as Swing Street, or among musicians of the 1920s and ‘30s … The Street.

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Oct 18, 2018
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
Runnin' Wild
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Piece image
This program is devoted to those pioneering jazz violinists of the 1920s and ‘30s.

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Oct 11, 2018
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
Condon's Chicago
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Chicago 1920s
During the 1920s, Chicago was the center of musical creativity.

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Oct 03, 2018
  • Length: 58:59
  • Purchases: 1
Bix & Friends
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Andy Secrest, cornet
The friends who surrounded Bix Beiderbecke in the 1920s is virtually a who's who in jazz. There wasn't one who didn't admire the man who played no ...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Sep 27, 2018
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
Belters
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Ma Rainey
Before the electrical recording process was invented, vocalists had to sing into a large pick up horn. Women were disadvantaged because their voice...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Sep 21, 2018
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
Motor City
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Graystone Ballroom
Detroit isn’t usually thought of as an active jazz center in the 1920s, but nothing could be farther from the truth. Fact is, Detroit boasted one o...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Sep 12, 2018
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
Show Stoppers
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: sheet music for the Hot Chocolates
In the 1920s and early '30s, musical reviews became the rage. There was always an irrelevant story line that threaded threw the performances, but i...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Sep 06, 2018
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
On the Street
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: 1920s street musician
There’s a very good reason why so many songs in the 1920s relate to streets: Basin Street and Vine Street Blues for example. This is a result of mu...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Aug 29, 2018
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
The Voice
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: the Club McKenzie: Your 1920s Jazz Speakeasy
Caption: Louis Armstrong
Although Louis Armstrong is remembered as the best New Orleans trumpet, he’s also vividly remembered as a creative vocalist. What made him so diffe...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Aug 22, 2018
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1

Playlists That Feature This Series: