Bennie Moten’s Kansas City Orchestra: The Chronological Classics, 1923-1927 (Chronological Classics, 1996)

While jazz mania was centered on Chicago and New Orleans, a rhythmic insurgency was brewing in Kansas City. Pianist Moten’s band incorporated the Stomp beat from his hometown’s rough-and-rowdy nightlife and doubled down on the blues, making these some of the most vital, danceable, and forward-thinking recordings of the era. MICHAEL J. WEST

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