Pete Kelly's Blues
Little Jake
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Pete Kelly's Blues follows Pete Kelly, a cornet player and bandleader working in Kansas City during the Prohibition era. Pete and his band, the Big Seven, play in a world of smoky clubs, bootlegging, and uneasy encounters with the people who control the nightlife.
The program blends crime drama with jazz. Music is part of the storytelling: Pete's band performs, while the surrounding scenes bring listeners into the clubs and the risks that come with their business. Episodes draw on the tensions between musicians, club owners, gangsters, and law enforcement, with Pete caught between his loyalty to the band and the dangers around them.
Its sound is atmospheric and grounded in the period, with jazz performance woven into a hard-edged radio drama. The result offers both the pleasure of a working band on the air and the suspense of a crime story shaped by the rhythms and shadows of Kansas City's jazz scene.
This recording is part of the Old Time Radio collection.