| Biography | Paul Samuel Whiteman (March 28, 1890 December 29, 1967) was an American bandleader and orchestral director.
Leader of the most popular dance bands in the United States during the 1920s, Whiteman produced recordings that were immensely successful, and press notices often referred to him as the "King of Jazz". Using a large ensemble and exploring many styles of music, Whiteman is perhaps best known for his blending of symphonic music and jazz, as typified by his 1924 commissioning and debut of George Gershwin's jazz-influenced "Rhapsody In Blue". Whiteman recorded many jazz and pop standards during his career, including "Wang Wang Blues", "Mississippi Mud", "Rhapsody in Blue", "Wonderful One", "Hot Lips", "Mississippi Suite", and "Grand Canyon Suite". His popularity faded in the swing music era of the 1930s, and by the 1940s Whiteman was semi-retired from music.
In 1926, the British press would describe Whiteman's landmark, April 11th performance at Royal Albert Hall by stating "The 8000 who got seats were lucky, and the 1000 or more who stood on each other's feet in the vast circular promenade area at the top of the building, from which they could not have thrown a stone at the stage, evidently thought they were recompensed for their hardships. One of the professional critics who disapprove of Mr Whiteman admitted that the house was full and estimated that 5000 were turned away from the door." Two weeks later, on the afternoon of April 25th, the Whiteman Orchestra would once again perform at London's renowned Royal Albert Hall, for a specially added engagement scheduled to accommodate the thousands of British fans previously turned away. |