Kansas City is one of America’s most famous cradles of jazz, according to Chuck Haddix, DJ and host of “The Fish Fry” on KCUR. During the 1930s, the city’s music scene developed its own sounds, evolving from ragtime to Count Basie’s hard-swinging, big-band style to Charlie Parker’s bebop.
Ahead of Here & Now‘s broadcast from Kansas City next week, Jeremy Hobson gets a musical tour through the city’s jazz history with Haddix, who is also curator of the Marr Sound Archives and author of “Kansas City Jazz: From Ragtime to Bebop” and “Bird: The Life and Music of Charlie Parker.”
Note: We have a Spotify playlist and an Apple Music playlist for our weekly DJ Sessions.
Music From The Segment
Bennie Moten and his Kansas City Orchestra, “Moten’s Swing”
Count Basie, “One O’Clock Jump”
Pete Johnson and Big Joe Turner, “Roll ‘Em Pete”
Charlie Parker, “Yardbird Suite”
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