Jay McShann discusses his band post-war.

Listen Now Add to Play List Read Transcript (File Size: 0.37MB)

Jay McShann discusses his work in the '50s and '60s.

Listen Now Add to Play List Read Transcript (File Size: 0.28MB)

Jay McShann on keeping busy.

Listen Now Add to Play List Read Transcript (File Size: 0.17MB)

If you are experiencing problems playing audio on this site,
please update to the latest version of Flash.

Transcription

Q: “So much of your orchestral stuff, though you worked with it for about four or five years, very little of it actually got on record. It was a small band then that kept you going after the war…”

A: “Yes, after a while, and when we were successful, you know, with the big bands with expenses and so forth. So we just got a small group together and we went up, you know, we did a few jobs and we went to the Coast and whatnot and came back. And then by that time, you see, my kids were getting school age, you know, so I figured then that's why I'm going to settle down somewhere. I'll just pick a town and in fact, I was figuring on staying maybe on the West Coast and then ... But they were in South Bend, Indiana. And you know, the old girl, she thought that was a little too far apart, you know, to go all the way out there. So then I came on back and settled over Kansas City. And I put the kids at the school in Kansas City and I stayed around and I played around Kansas City until after they, you know, they kind of got through school and I started back out on the road again.”