Shows
Nameless and UnrememberedJohn Lang Jr. and the Blind Boone Concert CompanyJohn Lang, Jr. turned Boone's talent into a successful business. The show was among the most successful touring companies of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. https://www.patreon.com/c/NamelessandUnrememberedJoin our Patreon for updates and exclusive content.2024-11-1226 minNameless and UnrememberedThe Birth and Early Life of John William BooneJohn William Boone, known by the professional name "Blind" Boone was a classical and ragtime pianist and composer from Missouri. He faced great uncertainty and dangers building a career in the Reconstruction and Jim Crow eras on his way to becoming one of America's most popular touring entertainers.https://www.patreon.com/c/NamelessandUnrememberedJoin our Patreon for updates and exclusive content.2024-11-0525 min
Nameless and UnrememberedWilbur Sweatman Part 2Sweatman develops his vaudeville act and lands in New York City. He records for numerous record labels and works in music publishing, eventually representing the estate of Scott Joplin. Don't forget to join our Patreon to get access to a playlist for this episode and other exclusive content.https://www.patreon.com/c/NamelessandUnrememberedJoin our Patreon for updates and exclusive content.2024-10-2925 min
Nameless and UnrememberedWilbur Sweatman Part 1Wilbur Sweatman, b. 1881 in Brunswick, Missouri was an important musician who connects ragtime, vaudeville and itinerant show bands to the birth of jazz. Depending on how one determines what jazz is, he was very likely the first artist to make an audio recording of this emerging style. Comparisons of Sweatman's style to better known O.D.J.B. recordings from the time after the release of Sweatman's 1916 Down Home Rag show them to sound more arranged and scripted, possessing less of the fire and spirit of improvisation found in Sweatman's work.https://www.patreon.com/c/NamelessandUnremembered2024-10-2223 min
Nameless and UnrememberedChigaco and Smith's LegacyPart 6 of 6. Smith organizes music groups for the Pullman Railcar Company and youth bands for the Chicago Defender newspaper. He has a work premiered by the St. Louis Symphony. Notable former students abound.https://www.patreon.com/c/NamelessandUnrememberedJoin our Patreon for updates and exclusive content.2024-10-1545 min
Nameless and UnrememberedN. Clark Smith and Ada Crogman's PageantPart 5 of 6. After his feud with Booker T. Washington, N. Clark Smith returns to the midwest. He composes an overture and arranges music for the epic pageant "Milestones of a Race," written and directed by Ada Crogman Franklin. https://www.patreon.com/c/NamelessandUnrememberedJoin our Patreon for updates and exclusive content.2024-10-0853 min
Nameless and UnrememberedN. Clark Smith at the Tuskegee InstitutePart 4 of 6. N. Clark Smith returns from his 13 month world tour and embraces his future as an educator and composer. This leads him to Wichita, Chicago and eventually the famous Tuskegee Institute and Booker T. Washington. https://www.patreon.com/c/NamelessandUnrememberedJoin our Patreon for updates and exclusive content.2024-10-0132 min
Nameless and UnrememberedN. Clark Smith Tours the WorldPart 3 of 6. After a few years growing into prominence as a bandleader in Wichita and Kansas City, N. Clark Smith was recruited by Ernest Hogan to lead a youth band on a world tour of the M.B. Curtis All-Star Minstrel Company. Host Bill McKemy is joined by Toni Gates, Lisa Henry and Rich Wheeler.https://www.patreon.com/c/NamelessandUnrememberedJoin our Patreon for updates and exclusive content.2024-09-2438 min
Nameless and UnrememberedN. Clark Smith and J.W. "Blind" Boone - 1893 World's Columbian ExpositionPart 2 of 6. After venturing away from his hometown of Leavenworth, Kansas, N. Clark Smith began leading a youth band for ragtime legend John William "Blind" Boone. He attends the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition where he brushes shoulders with many of the greatest black composers and political leaders of his time.Host Bill McKemy is joined by Toni Gates, Lisa Henry and Rich Wheeler.https://www.patreon.com/c/NamelessandUnrememberedJoin our Patreon for updates and exclusive content.2024-09-1737 min
Nameless and UnrememberedN. Clark Smith in Leavenworth, KansasPart 1 of 6 on band leader, composer and educator N. Clark Smith. A prolific but relatively unknown African American musical trailblazer of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.This episode discusses his family and upbringing in Leavenworth, Kansas from Smith's birth in 1866 through his marriage and departure from Leavenworth in 1890. Later in the episode, host Bill McKemy is joined by musicians, educators and activists Toni Gates, Lisa Henry and Rich Wheeler.https://www.patreon.com/c/NamelessandUnrememberedJoin our Patreon for updates and exclusive content.2024-09-1029 min
Neon Jazz InterviewsKansas City Jazz Bassist Bill McKemyWelcome to a new Neon Jazz interview with talented and busy Kansas City based bassist Bill McKemy. During this interview, he talks about his Missouri roots, playing jazz in Philadelphia, how the KC jazz scene is doing in 2013, the 1 jazz artist he would love to meet, along with much more.
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Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/joe-dimino/support2022-12-1736 min
History Unplugged PodcastMeet Nathaniel Clark Smith, the Melchizedek of Jazz—Bill McKemyJazz is the most American of musical genres. But its origins are shrouded in mystery. Some like to think that Louis Armstrong and his bluesmen friends were sitting at a bar in New Orleans, when a solar eclipse and Haley's Comet occurred at the same time, causing the musical troupe to start using a swing rhythm. But musicologist Bill McKemy thinks that the origins of jazz can be traced more directly to one man. That is Nathaniel Clark Smith: The Melchizedek of Jazz. Smith was African-American musician, composer, and music educator in the United States during the early decades of t...2017-12-111h 14
Artspeak RadioARTSPEAK RADIO presents, Sonie Joi Thompson-Ruffin and Bill McKemySonie Joi Thompson-Ruffin, visiting curator of the American Jazz Museum Changing Gallery, and Bill McKemy, the museum’s education manager, will discuss the current exhibit “Jazz Then & Now” and other programming at the museum. Sonié Joi Thompson-Ruffin is a renowned …2015-01-031h 28