PRX - Pieces for Tone: Engaging

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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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
Caption: Thomas Morris
Cornetist Thomas Morris is somewhat of an obscure artist from the 1920s, although he was certainly very active recording with Clarence Williams, Si...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Apr 09, 2014
  • Length: 58:59
  • Purchases: 1
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
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
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
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
Piece image
Here’s another look at the extraordinary talents of Thomas ‘Fats’ Waller, with more humorous stories from behind the scenes.

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: Sep 13, 2013
  • Length: 58:57
  • Purchases: 1
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
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
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
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
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
Caption: sheet music cover
As New Orleans musicians began to migrate north following the closure of Storyville (the red light district near the navy base), it was only natura...

Bought by Radio New Zealand and KCBX


  • Added: Jun 04, 2013
  • Length: 58:58
  • Purchases: 2
Caption: Kid Ory
By 1911, tailgate trombonist Kid Ory was leading one of the best-known bands in New Orleans. Eight years later he formed a successful band in Los A...

Bought by KCBX


  • Added: May 06, 2013
  • Length: 58:57
  • Purchases: 1
Piece image
He is considered the first great tenor saxophonist in jazz. The first signs of Coleman Hawkins’ potential began to show when he was still a child.

Bought by KCBX, KMUW, and KCBX


  • Added: Apr 30, 2013
  • Length: 58:58
  • Purchases: 3