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In 1925 New York became the biggest, most populous city in the world, overtaking London, and was the launchpad for an extraordinary range of writing, music, culture and politics which still resonate 100 years later - from the publication of F Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and the launch of The New Yorker, to the rise of the Harlem Renaissance and the first success for the composer Richard Rodgers.

This is the story of that momentous year, season by season, told over four episodes, with contributors including novelist Jay McInerney, the writer and academic Margo Jefferson and the editor of the New Yorker David Remnick. The series is presented by the saxophonist and broadcaster Soweto Kinch, with an original soundtrack played by the composer and jazz clarinettist Giacomo Smith and his band.

Episode 4: Autumn

It was election time for mayor of the biggest city on earth, and the fun-loving, fast-living Jimmy Walker was up against the establishment in the form of pen millionaire, Frank Waterman. But who ever won, Jimmy had changed politics in New York forever.

The New Yorker magazine was finally turning a corner, with its first edition that sold out – thanks to a celebrity debutante.

November saw two publications that showcased the city in different ways – the kaleidoscopic, impressionistic novel Manhattan Transfer by John Dos Passos, and The New Negro: An Interpretation, edited by Alain Locke, which was the nearest thing to a mission statement for the Harlem Renaissance.

Presenter Soweto Kinch
Producer Katy Hickman
Band: Giacomo Smith clarinet; Laura Judd trumpet; Daniel Higham trombone; Alexander Boulton banjo; Joe Webb piano; Corrie Dick drums; Soweto Kinch saxophone