WYSO Music Director Niki Dakota interviews Chris Botti on Excursions on September 23, 2009

In the Twenties, Chicago’s South Side "bright-light" district "The Stroll" was the heart of the jazz scene. Peppered with nightclubs, pool halls, tattoo parlors, and vaudeville houses, it was home to the city’s 100,000 African Americans. During the day, the city was segregated, but at night differences between black and white became somewhat blurred. Chicago nightlife knew no boundaries, and the sound of jazz seemed to seep up out of the sidewalks.

November's new CD recommendations: Snow Road, Pieces of Old Sky, Psychedelic Blues, Detroit