Tough Tenors

A promo photo for Jack McVea's jump band. The saxophonist is first in line.

Creating an imaginary jazz club jukebox, host David Dann spins rare 78s from the Archive that feature great tenor saxophone players. Drawing on the decade from 1945 to 1953, the era of small band jump blues, Dann evokes sounds that might have been heard on a pleasant summer evening in a tavern on 125th Street in Harlem or on Central Avenue in L.A. or south of the Loop in Chicago.