Paul Whiteman

• Born: March 28, 1890
• Birthplace: Denver, Colorado
• Died: December 29, 1967
• Place of death: Dolyestown, Pennsylvania

American jazz violinist and composer

A major big band leader during the 1920’s and 1930’s, Whiteman led the transition in musical styles from ragtime to jazz, providing music for Broadway shows and recordings.

Member of Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra

The Life

Paul Whiteman was born in Denver, Colorado, to Wilberforce and Elfrida Dallison Whiteman. His father was superintendent of music for the Denver school system, and he greatly influenced Whiteman’s training on the violin and the viola and instilled in his son the self-discipline to become a world-class orchestra leader. Paul played viola in the Denver Symphony Orchestra from 1907 to 1914. He studied music in New York under Henry Schradieck, a violinist and a teacher at the American Institute of Applied Music, and under Max Bendix, conductor of the Metropolitan Opera from 1911 to 1914.

Whiteman left Denver for San Francisco 1914, and he played the viola for the Panama-Pacific Exposition Orchestra in 1915. A number of visiting conductors proved good mentors—Camille Saint-Saëns, John Philip Sousa, Richard Hageman (of the Metropolitan Opera), George Georgescu, Walter Damrosch, and Victor Herbert. He played the viola with the San Francisco Symphony from 1915 to 1918, and he also played in upscale hotels and attended the city’s jazz clubs. Whiteman joined the Navy in 1918, and he led a twelve-piece Mare Island Naval Training Camp Symphony Orchestra, an experience that served him well when he later formed the Whiteman Orchestra. He had four wives: Nellie Stack (1908-1914), Jimmy Smith (1917-1920), Mildred Vanderhoff (1922-1931), and Margaret Livingston (1931-1967). Whiteman died at the age of seventy-seven in Doylestown, Pennsylvania.

The Music

While playing with the Denver Symphony, Whiteman began “ragging” classical compositions to give them popular appeal, a skill that later interested him in the new sounds of jazz. In San Francisco’s clubs, he learned the nuances of jazz, although he believed that improvisations and spontaneity should be preserved with scoring, by writing down jazz music for repeat performances. Later, he encouraged improvisations that were “off the score.” Whiteman had considerable orchestral experience, and he promoted what he termed “symphonic jazz” from a solid musical background.

“Whispering” and “Avalon.” Through jazz, Whiteman found a creative outlet for his considerable musical talent and fulfilled his dream of forming a band. He played in upscale hotels, opening at San Francisco’s Fairmont Hotel after World War I with his Rainbow Lane Orchestra. It was composed of jazz musicians, including Gus Mueller (sax), Henry Busse (trumpet), and Buster Johnston (trombone), and Whiteman employed Ferde Grofé, a gifted arranger and pianist.

Whiteman’s Orchestra expanded by 1920, playing at the Alexandria Hotel in Los Angeles and the Ambassador in Atlantic City. Added to Grofé, Mueller, Busse, and Johnston were Hale “Pee Wee” Byers (reeds), Mike Pingitore (banjo), Sammy Heiss (string bass and tuba), and Harold McDonald (drums and percussion). The Whiteman Orchestra played in a style referred to as Jazz Classique.

Early Whiteman sound stemmed from Grofé’s arrangements, using a harmony chorus of four parts with two brass and two saxophones. Rhythm was indicated by the piano, the banjo, a soft pizzicato bass, or a whispered drum tap, and the melody was given to the first trumpet supported by two saxophones and a trombone. This new style was represented by “Whispering” and “Avalon,” and it produced warm, smooth, lush danceable sounds.

The Whiteman Orchestra recorded “Whispering,” “Japanese Sandman,” “Avalon,” and “Wang-Wang Blues” at its first Victor session in Camden, New Jersey, in 1920. (Later, Whiteman recorded with Columbia Records, Decca Records, and Capitol Records.) “Whispering” became a national hit, selling more than two and a half million copies. Vincent Rose wrote “Avalon” based on an aria from Giacomo Puccini’s opera Tosca (1900), and Grofé created the Whiteman arrangement, allowing for ad-libs and solos. When the records were released, the Whiteman Orchestra was playing at the café of the Palais Royal in New York.

“Cho-Cho-San” and “Song of India.” In 1921 in New York, Whiteman played at the Metropolitan Opera House and on Broadway. He recorded “Cho-Cho-San” based on Puccini’s Madama Butterfly (1904) and “Song of India” from the opera Sadko (1896) by Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov. He formed Paul Whiteman, Inc. to develop satellite dance bands (totaling fifty-eight), performing under his name, he and became a successful entrepreneur. His orchestra toured Europe, and by 1923 he was called the King of Jazz.

“I’ll Build a Stairway to Paradise.” In 1922 Whiteman recorded “Hot Lips” and “Three o’Clock in the Morning,” which opened with chimes like those of London’s Big Ben. Whiteman popularized George Gershwin’s songs from George White’s Scandals (1922) “I Found a Four Leaf Clover” and “I’ll Build a Stairway to Paradise,” which featured a sax chorus with musicians Ross Gorman, Donald Clark, and Byers and a bluesy trumpet solo by Tommy Gott. Whiteman recorded and popularized Irving Berlin’s song “Pack Up Your Sins and Go to the Devil” from the Music Box Revue (1922) and tunes from the 1923 Ziegfeld Follies “Shake Your Feet” and “Swanee River Blues,” with Frank Siegrist’s trumpet solo. Whiteman worked with Al Jolson recording “California Here I Come” in 1924.

Rhapsody in Blue. Whiteman’s Experiment in Modern Music concert held February 12, 1924, at Aeolian Hall in New York featured Rhapsody in Blue (1924) written by Gershwin. Commissioned and premiered by Whiteman, Rhapsody in Blue was played by Gershwin, and it is considered one of the most beautiful songs ever written. In 1925 the Gramophone Company recorded the Whiteman Orchestra at Royal Albert Hall in London. Over the years, additional Whiteman Experiment in Modern Music concerts were played at venues such as Carnegie Hall.

“It Won’t Be Long Now.” Bing Crosby and Al Rinker were selected by Whiteman as vocalists in 1926. Crosby appeared as soloist on “Muddy Water” in 1927. Crosby, Rinker, and Harry Barris were featured as the Rhythm Boys in “Mississippi Mud,” “Five-Step,” and “It Won’t Be Long Now,” with the Dorsey Brothers.

“Washboard Blues.” Bix Beiderbecke plays the trumpet in “Washboard Blues” from 1927, the first arrangement by Bill Challis, with Hoagy Carmichael as vocalist. Challis’s “Changes” used three baritone saxes, and it allowed Bix to improvise in solo. Challis’s arrangements featured hot jazz, showcasing Beiderbecke and Trumbauer. Beiderbecke began to lead a trio with Jimmy Dorsey on clarinet and Tommy Dorsey on trombone, as in “Smile.” Challis arranged “Ol’ Man River” for Bing Crosby, as well as “Sugar” for Beiderbecke’s most famous jazz improvisation. Whiteman was able to take risks in his music, leading it in new directions.

The King of Jazz. Whiteman recorded tunes from Show Boat (1927), but after 1927 he allowed his hot brass trio to shine—in symphonic jazz at its best. He recorded songs for the films The King of Jazz (1930) and Coquette (1929), and vocals were usually sung by Crosby. Whiteman selected the best musicians for his band and paid the highest salaries.

Musical Legacy

A pioneer of symphonic jazz, Whiteman was an impresario in the big band and orchestra era that promoted dance music. He employed all the early jazz musicians of prominence, and he introduced eminent composers. He made more than six hundred recordings, which offered opportunities for new vocalists. Duke Ellington praised Whiteman for making jazz respectable.

Bibliography

Berrett, Joshua. Louis Armstrong and Paul Whiteman: Two Kings of Jazz. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2004. This book parallels the musical and personal lives of the “two kings of jazz.”

DeLong, Thomas A. Pops: Paul Whiteman, King of Jazz. Piscataway, N.J.: New Century, 1983. This laudatory biography explains how Whiteman hired his musicians and vocalists.

Rayno, Don. Paul Whiteman: Pioneer of American Music. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press, 2003. This well-researched biographical study contains a discography, a complete chronology of Whiteman’s life, and profiles of other musicians.

Whiteman, Paul, and Mary Margaret McBride. Jazz. New York: J. H. Sears, 1926. This resource explains the numerous classical sources for Whiteman’s songs.

Principal Recordings

singles (solo): “It Happened in Monterey,” 1930; “You Brought a New Kind of Love,” 1930; “A Faded Summer Love,” 1931; “Lover,” 1932; “Rise ’n’ Shine,” 1932; “Three on a Match,” 1932; “Willow, Weep for Me,” 1932; “You’re an Old Smoothie,” 1932; “It’s Only a Paper Moon,” 1933; “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes,” 1933; “All Through the Night,” 1934; “Anything Goes,” 1934; “I Get a Kick Out of You,” 1934; “Love in Bloom,” 1934; “Wagon Wheels,” 1934; “If the Moon Turns Green,” 1935; “Wah-Hoo!,” 1936.

singles (with Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra): “Avalon,” 1920; “Japanese Sandman,” 1920; “Wang-Wang Blues,” 1920; “Whispering,” 1920; “Cherie,” 1921; “Cho-Cho-San,” 1921; “My Mammy,” 1921; “Say It with Music,” 1921; “Song of India,” 1921; “Do It Again!,” 1922; “Hot Lips,” 1922; “I Found a Four Leaf Clover,” 1922; “I’ll Build a Stairway to Paradise,” 1922; “Pack Up Your Sins and Go to the Devil,” 1922; “Stumbling,” 1922; “Three o’Clock in the Morning,” 1922; “Bambalina,” 1923; “Linger a While,” 1923; “Parade of the Wooden Soldiers,” 1923; “Shake Your Feet,” 1923; “Swanee River Blues,” 1923; “All Alone,” 1924; “California Here I Come,” 1924; “Somebody Loves Me,” 1924; “What’ll I Do?,” 1924; “Birth of the Blues,” 1926; “In a Little Spanish Town,” 1926; “Valencia,” 1926; “Among My Souvenirs,” 1927; “Changes,” 1927; “Five Step,” 1927; “It Won’t Be Long Now,” 1927; “Mississippi Mud,” 1927; “Muddy Water,” 1927; “My Blue Heaven,” 1927; “Sugar,” 1927; “Washboard Blues,” 1927; “C. O. N. S. T. A. N. T. I. N. O. P. L. E.,” 1928; “Mississippi Mud,” 1928; “My Angel,” 1928; “Ol’ Man River,” 1928; “Ramona,” 1928; “Together,” 1928; “Blue Hawaii,” 1929; “Button Up Your Overcoat,” 1929; “Great Day,” 1929.