Jazz Focus
- Episodes
- 100
- Released
- daily
- Latest episode
- Nov 9, 2026
About the podcast
Exploring the highways and byways of Classic Recorded Jazz - from the Ragtime era to the day before yesterday!
Episodes 100
Show- Morning with Pops. .Louis Armstrong Orchestra 1937
Live from the Fleischman Yeast radio program - the 1937 band with Red Allen, J.C. Higginbotham, Jimmy Archey, Albert Nicholas, Charlie Holmes, Bingie Madison, Luis Russell, Lee Blair, Pops Foster and Paul …
Show notes
Live from the Fleischman Yeast radio program - the 1937 band with Red Allen, J.C. Higginbotham, Jimmy Archey, Albert Nicholas, Charlie Holmes, Bingie Madison, Luis Russell, Lee Blair, Pops Foster and Paul Barbarin, all backing the trumpet and vocals of Louis Armstrong!
Show - Morning with Pops . .Louis Armstrong Orchestra 1943
Great live recordings by possibly the best big band Louis ever had - with Bernard Flood, George Washington, Rupert Cole, Prince Robinson, Luis Russell, Lawrence Lucie and others - with arrangements and …
Show notes
Great live recordings by possibly the best big band Louis ever had - with Bernard Flood, George Washington, Rupert Cole, Prince Robinson, Luis Russell, Lawrence Lucie and others - with arrangements and occasional tenor sax solos by Joe Garland!
Show - Joe Venuti in the 1970's with Zoot Sims, Earl Hines and others
Compilation of recordings the legendary violinist Venuti made for Chiaroscuro in the 1970's with Earl Hines, Dick Wellstood, Dill Jones, Milt Hinton, Bucky Pizzarelli, Zoot Sims, George Duvivier, Cliff Leeman …
Show notes
Compilation of recordings the legendary violinist Venuti made for Chiaroscuro in the 1970's with Earl Hines, Dick Wellstood, Dill Jones, Milt Hinton, Bucky Pizzarelli, Zoot Sims, George Duvivier, Cliff Leeman, Spencer Clark and others.
Texas Territory Bands - 1928-31
Bands led by Slim Lamar, Sunny Clapp, Phil Baxter and Mart Britt . . .all Texas and Tennessee musicians (and at least one - Tony Almerico - from New Orleans) playing high quality dance music with a surprising …
Show notes
Bands led by Slim Lamar, Sunny Clapp, Phil Baxter and Mart Britt . . .all Texas and Tennessee musicians (and at least one - Tony Almerico - from New Orleans) playing high quality dance music with a surprising amount of hot jazz thrown in - definitely showing that New York and Chicago weren't the only centers of the jazz world in the late 1920's!
Show- Lester Young 1956
Live recordings from a residence in Washington D.C. that found Lester Young at the end of his career but in remarkably good shape - accompanied by the Bill Potts Trio
Show - Morning with Pops . .Louis back in Chicago November, 1925
Louis Armstrong's first recordings in Chicago after over a year away in New York - the first Hot Fives and accompaniments to Hociel Thomas, Chippie Hill and Blanche Calloway.
Show - Morning With Pops . . International Louis
Louis Armstrong recorded a little of everything over a career in the studios that spanned almost a half a century. Here are examples of Cuban, Mexican, French, Irish and African songs he made his own!
Show - Jazz goes to Hawaii!
Great sides from 1927-34 led by and featuring Hawaiian musicians active in Los Angeles and New York- Andy Iona, Sol K. Bright, Sol Hoopi, King Nawahi and others using traditional steel guitar and string …
Show notes
Great sides from 1927-34 led by and featuring Hawaiian musicians active in Los Angeles and New York- Andy Iona, Sol K. Bright, Sol Hoopi, King Nawahi and others using traditional steel guitar and string ensembles enlivened by horns in most cases.
Southside Blues and Barrelhouse - Jimmy Blythe band sides
Great sides featuring the largely forgotten pianist with Punch Miller, Darnell Howard, Cicero Thomas, George James, Bill Johnson and W.E. Burton among others!
Show - Dave McKenna and Guests (Joe Venuti, Joe Temperley, Ruby Braff, Bobby Gordon, Buddy DeFranco)
Great selection of duos and rhythm section sides with the great Boston pianist backing major soloists!
Show- Morning With Pops . . Louis Armstrong Autobiography 2
Second set of great recreations of Louis' 1920's small group recordings done in 1956 - with Yank Lawson and George Barnes in addition to the All-Stars (Louis, Trummy Young, Edmond Hall, Billy Kyle, Squire …
Show notes
Second set of great recreations of Louis' 1920's small group recordings done in 1956 - with Yank Lawson and George Barnes in addition to the All-Stars (Louis, Trummy Young, Edmond Hall, Billy Kyle, Squire Girsh, Barrett Deems)
Show - Morning with Pops . .Louis Armstrong Autobiography 1
Great recreations of Louis' 1920's small group recordings done in 1956 - with Yank Lawson and George Barnes in addition to the All-Stars (Louis, Trummy Young, Edmond Hall, Billy Kyle, Squire Girsh, Barrett Deems)
Show- Bud Freeman and George Wettling 1954, 55
Two sessions by Freeman (with Dick Cary, George Barnes, Don Lamond) for Capitol and the rest of the George Wettling session featuring Freeman, Jonah Jones, Milt Hinton and Dave Bowman from 1955.
Show - Franz Jackson with the Salty Dogs and Jim Beebe
Two Delmark albums featuring the septuagenarian reed player Jackson with Beebe's Chicago Jazz (Bob Neighbor and others) and the octogenarian Jackson with the Salty Dogs (Lew Green, Tom Bartlett, Kim Cusack …
Show notes
Two Delmark albums featuring the septuagenarian reed player Jackson with Beebe's Chicago Jazz (Bob Neighbor and others) and the octogenarian Jackson with the Salty Dogs (Lew Green, Tom Bartlett, Kim Cusack, John Cooper, Jack Kuncl, Mike Walbridge, Wayne Jones and Neighbor) playing swing tunes, originals and New Orleans standards, still at the top of his game.
Show- Morning with Pops . .Louis and the Hawaiians
Four recordings done by Louis with Andy Iona's Islanders, one ("Song of the Islands") from his Autobiography album and three non-Louis sides by Mannie Klein and His Swing-Hulas!
Show - Morning with Pops . .Louis with Ed Hall and This is Jazz 1947
Live sides with Louis back to his roots leading a New Orleans styled jazz band - Edmond Hall, Albert Nicholas, George Brunies, Pops Foster, Danny Barker, Baby Dodds, Art Hodes, Ellis Larkins, Wild Bill Davison …
Show notes
Live sides with Louis back to his roots leading a New Orleans styled jazz band - Edmond Hall, Albert Nicholas, George Brunies, Pops Foster, Danny Barker, Baby Dodds, Art Hodes, Ellis Larkins, Wild Bill Davison, Irving Randolph, Henderson Chambers, Johnny Williams and Jimmy Crawford
Show - Jonah Jones Swing sides - 1954
The great trumpet player in a selection of mainstream sides done for Vogue with Alix Combelle's band (including Jean-Claude Pelletier), his own sextet for Bethlehem (with George Clarke, Urbie Green, Kenny …
Show notes
The great trumpet player in a selection of mainstream sides done for Vogue with Alix Combelle's band (including Jean-Claude Pelletier), his own sextet for Bethlehem (with George Clarke, Urbie Green, Kenny Kersey, Milt Hinton and Osie Johnson) and a Jazztone session with Sammy Price's Kaycee Stompers with Price, Vic Dickenson, Pete Brown, Milt Hinton and Osie Johnson.
Al Sudhalter - Boston Sax ! 1930's and 60's
Al Sudhalter was one of the busiest musicians on the dance band scene in Boston in the 1920's and 30's . . .he refused chances to go to New York or London. Here is he heard in radio broadcasts on WNAC with a …
Show notes
Al Sudhalter was one of the busiest musicians on the dance band scene in Boston in the 1920's and 30's . . .he refused chances to go to New York or London. Here is he heard in radio broadcasts on WNAC with a jam session group, Herb Marsh and His Orchestra and his own Voice of the Saxophone program from 1932. The rest is from several Ristic albums made in England in 1968 and 69 with the Anglo-American Alliance including his son, cornetist Dick Sudhalter, trombonist Keith Nichols, clarinetists Ray Whittham and Alan Cooper, pianists Fred Hunt, Brian Lemon and Henry "thins" Francis.
Show - Jonah Jones 1953/54 with Sidney Bechet and others
The great trumpeter Jones is here featured on two sides with Bechet for Blue Note (with Jimmy Archey, Wellman Braud, Manzie Johnson and Buddy Weed) and several for Vogue (with a French rhythm section including …
Show notes
The great trumpeter Jones is here featured on two sides with Bechet for Blue Note (with Jimmy Archey, Wellman Braud, Manzie Johnson and Buddy Weed) and several for Vogue (with a French rhythm section including Andre Persiany) in addition to his own sextet recording for Bethlehem (with Edmond Hall, Vic Dickenson, Kenny Kersey, Pops Foster and Osie Johnson)
Show - Morning With Pops . . Louis Armstrong 1935
Louis' first recordings after his return from Europe in 1935 inaugurated his career as a crooner . . pop tunes featuring him with the Luis Russell band.
Morning with Pops - Louis and the Gershwins
Recordings of a variety of Gershwin tunes featuring Louis Armstrong with Oscar Peterson and Ella Fitzgerald.
Show - Barrelhouse Piano Rolls! 1920-31
Many piano players took advantage of player-piano technology to record their own compositions during the Jazz and Blues era of the 1920's. While the playback didn't give a true sense of the performer (no …
Show notes
Many piano players took advantage of player-piano technology to record their own compositions during the Jazz and Blues era of the 1920's. While the playback didn't give a true sense of the performer (no dynamics), it can show a lot of what made those piano players integral to the New Orleans, New York and Chicago scenes. Featuring Clarence Jones, Clarence "Jelly" Johnson, Lem Fowler, Steve Lewis, Cow Cow Davenport and Hersal Thomas.
Fenix Jazz Band - Trad Jazz in Argentina 1978-99
Long-lived band from Buenos Aires, the Fenix Jazz Band recorded frequently during the 1980's and 90's and demonstrated a commitment to 1920's Jazz and Ragtime with driving performances of tunes associated with …
Show notes
Long-lived band from Buenos Aires, the Fenix Jazz Band recorded frequently during the 1980's and 90's and demonstrated a commitment to 1920's Jazz and Ragtime with driving performances of tunes associated with Ellington, Clarence Williams, Morton, Oliver, Armstrong, Bix and many others.
Show - Jimmy Blythe Southside Chicago . .1924-31
The short-lived barrelhouse pianist recorded a handful of solos and great blues accompaniments heard here - with Sodarisa Miller, Monette, Moore, Priscilla Stewart and Alexander Robinson, but mostly Jimmy Blythe!
Morning with Pops - Louis and New Orleans 1946
Two Victor sessions before and during the filming of the film New Orleans. With Vic Dickenson, Kid Ory, Barney Bigard, Charlie Beal, Bud Scott, Allan Reuss, Red Callender, Zutty Singleton and Minor Hall.
Morning with Pops - Louis and the All-Stars 1946, 7
First sessions by the All-Stars for Victor, with Jack Teagarden, Bobby Hackett, Peanuts Hucko, Ernie Caceres, Dick Cary, Cozy Cole, Al Casey, Arvell Shaw, Sid Catlett, Barney Bigard.
Show- Ernie Carson with the Original Salty Dogs 1991-93
Two GHB and one Stomp Off album present the Portland/Atlanta cornetist fronting a group drawn from the classic Salty Dog lineup - Tom Bartlett, Kim Cusack, Wayne Jones and Mike Walbridge with Debbie Schreyer …
Show notes
Two GHB and one Stomp Off album present the Portland/Atlanta cornetist fronting a group drawn from the classic Salty Dog lineup - Tom Bartlett, Kim Cusack, Wayne Jones and Mike Walbridge with Debbie Schreyer, Bill Rutan and West Coast vests Bill Carroll, Wally Rose, Pete Clute and Bob Helm. Great West Coast Trad!
Muggsy Spanier Commodore Sessions - 1944
Four great 1944 sessions for Commodore featuring Muggsy Spanier's Ragtimers - with Miff Mole, Lou McGarity, Pee Wee Russell, Ernie Caceres, Dick Cary, Gene Schroeder, Boomie Richman, Eddie Condon, Bob Casey …
Show notes
Four great 1944 sessions for Commodore featuring Muggsy Spanier's Ragtimers - with Miff Mole, Lou McGarity, Pee Wee Russell, Ernie Caceres, Dick Cary, Gene Schroeder, Boomie Richman, Eddie Condon, Bob Casey, Bob Haggart, Joe Grauso and George Wettling . . style-setting Dixieland!
Show- Hal McIntyre and His Orchestra 1942-47
Glenn Miller's first lead alto player Hal McIntyre left that group in 1941 to form his own big band, which owed much more to Ellington's sound. Tenor saxophonists Dave Matthews, Johnny Hayes and Willie Baker …
Show notes
Glenn Miller's first lead alto player Hal McIntyre left that group in 1941 to form his own big band, which owed much more to Ellington's sound. Tenor saxophonists Dave Matthews, Johnny Hayes and Willie Baker, trombonist Jim Emert, trumpeters Sal La Perche, Bobby Guyer and Joe Weidman and arrangers Matthews, McIntyre, Dan Hurd and Howard Gibbeling all contributed to an immensely talented but underrated band.
Morning with Pops - Louis and the Big Band 1937-40
Great sides recreating some of Louis' earlier recorded hits - with JC Higginbotham (tbn), Charlie Holmes (alto), Bingie Madison (clt), Joe Garland (tenor), Luis Russell (p), Pops Foster (bass), and Sid Catlett (drums)
These are the latest 40 of 100 episodes. You’ll find older episodes in the podcast’s feed.
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