We continue our tour of America’s great jazz cities with Kansas City and the storied and sordid roots of the famed Kansas City sound, as well as a look at adopted hometown hero Count Basie and one of jazz’s most underappreciated legends: Mary Lou Williams. We’ll talk with local boy and jazz historian Chuck Haddix about the the corrupt Kansas City political boss who defied Prohibition and helped spark the city’s early jazz scene, take a look at adopted hometown hero “Count” Bill Basie’s long and winding road from Kansas City to the pinnacle of swing, and explore the life and music of one of the great Mary Lou Williams.
 
Episode Transcript
 
Host: Jeff Haas
Guests: Chuck Haddix, Linda Dahl
 
Music

Wilbert Harrison “Kansas City”
Julia Lee “Snatch It and Grab It”
Jay McShann “Swingmatism”
Bennie Moten “Blue Room”
Kevin Mahogany and James Weidman “Parker's Mood / Kansas City”
Andy Kirk “Casey Jones Special”
Bennie Moten “Terrific Stomp”
Bennie Moten and Count Basie “Moten Swing”
Count Basie “One O’Clock Jump”
Jay McShann and Julia Lee “Trouble in Mind”
Andy Kirk “Confessin’ the Blues”
Charlie Parker “Parker’s Mood”
Julia Lee “Show Me Missouri Blues”
Count Basie “Splanky”
Bennie Moten “Milenberg Joys”
Bennie Moten “The Count”
Count Basie “Roseland Shuffle”
Count Basie “Jumpin’ at the Woodside”
Count Basie “Every Day I Have the Blues”
Count Basie and Joe Williams “Well, Alright, Okay, You Win”
Lest Young and the Oscar Peterson Trio “Almost Like Being In Love”
Andy Kirk “Froggy Bottom”
Andy Kirk and Mary Lou Williams “Mess-A-Stomp”
Andy Kirk “Big Jim Blues”
Mary Lou Williams “Taurus”
Mary Lou Williams “Libra”
Mary Lou Williams “Anima Christi”
Mary Lou Williams “Old Time Spiritual”
Mary Lou Williams “Dirge Blues”
Mary Lou Williams “Zonky”

 
Original Air Date: November 12, 2011
 
Radio broadcast produced by Lou Blouin and Jeff Haas
Radio broadcast audio engineering by Jack Conners and Brock Mormon
Podcast produced by Sam Boase-Miller and Erik Saras
Podcast audio remastering by Sam Boase-Miller
Transcripts and show notes by Erik Saras
 
Theme Song: Jeff Haas Trio & Friends “Giving In”
 
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The New Jazz Archive radio broadcasts originally sponsored by Chateau Chantal. The New Jazz Archive receives no revenue from podcast reissues of radio broadcasts.

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