12th Street Jump

This week on 12th Street Jump we celebrate the birthday of Harold Arlen with our special guest Ervin Brown. The gang discovers what gives St. Louis people the Blues and the Sax Therapist helps a Pittsburgh couple prime their private passion.

This week on 12th Street Jump we celebrate the birthday of King Curtis with our special guest Jim Mair. The wives on the campaign trail get some advice from Dr. Pearl and the Sax Therapist helps a married couple get their spark back.

This week on 12th Street Jump we celebrate the birthdays of Stephane Grappelli and Django Reinhardt with our special guests Marvin Gruenbaum and Clayton DeLong. Dr. Pearl prescribes some good advice for celebrities and politicians and we all take a language lesson from Serena’s School for Scat.

This week on 12th Street Jump we celebrated the birthday of Huddie “Lead Belly” Ledbetter, with our special guest Millage Gilbert as the Blues take center stage.

The iconic American folk and blues musician, Lead Belly was considered the "King of the 12-string guitar" but he also played the piano, accordion, mandolin, harmonica and violin in some recordings.

This week on 12th Street Jump, celebrate the music of Kansas City bluesman, jazzman & bandleader Jay McShann with music director & piano man Joe Cartwright.

Jay McShann, who died at St. Luke's Hospital in 2006, was at the forefront of the 1940s blues and hard bop jazz scene in Kansas City. He put together his own big band featuring Charlie Parker, Bernard Anderson & Ben Webster, and it exemplified what's known as the Kansas City sound.

This Saturday night, invite KCUR's Fish Fry and 12th Street Jump to bring the jazz & blues to your New Year's Eve party!

From 8pm to midnight, join Chuck Haddock on the Fish Fry ringing out the old and ringing in the new as he and his wife Terri Mac play an eclectic mix of the finest in blues, soul, rhythm 'n' blues, rock & roll,  jumpin' jive & zydeco.

Then at midnight, celebrate 2012 and the birthday of tenor saxman James Carter on 12th Street Jump, public radio's weekly jazz, blues and comedy jam.

Happy 2012 from KCUR!

Ring in 2012 & celebrate the birthday of tenor saxman James Carter on 12th Street Jump, public radio's weekly jazz, blues and comedy jam, Saturday at midnight on KCUR.

This week on 12th Street Jump, celebrate the birthday of Paul Butterfield with special guest Tom “Trashmouth” Baker.

Paul Butterfield (Dec.17,1942 - May 4, 1987) founded the Paul Butterfield Blues Band in the early 1960s. Butterfield played the harmonica in an unconventional way -- by turning it upside-down. The Paul Butterfield Blues Band performed at the original Woodstock Festival.

Warm up with the 12th Street Jump gang with a salute to the blues to help you get through the shopping rush, bad fruitcakes & frightful weather.

This week 12th Street Jump celebrates the birthday of vocalist Joe Williams with Kansas City's own David Basse.

Joe Williams was a baritone singer of blues, ballads & standards. He was known for his timing & tone. Born in Georgia, he started singing when he was 14 in Chicago with a teen-aged gospel quartet, the Jubilee Boys. In the 1950s, he sang regularly with a septet led by Count Basie and then with Basie's big band. Williams began performing his own blues repertoire with the band, including the song "Every Day (I Have the Blues)."

His successful singing career extended through the 1980s and 90s until he died in March 1999.