Born in Denver in 1890, Whiteman was raised in serious music by his father Wilberforce, director of music for the Denver Public Schools. As a student at East High School, he learned viola and started in 1916 with the Denver Symphony Orchestra as first chair.
After time with the San Francisco Symphony, he formed the Paul Whiteman Orchestra in 1918.
The nine-piece ensemble had relocated to New York City by 1920; it played the Palais Royal for the next four years—the earliest dance band from the West to take the East Coast by storm. In 1924, Whiteman staged a concert blending symphonic music and jazz at Aeolian Hall, New York’s temple of classical music. George Gershwin, playing piano, introduced “Rhapsody in Blue,” which became Whiteman’s theme song.
Whiteman had the country’s largest and best-paid dance orchestra, an imposing ensemble of up to 35 musicians—the first to play arrangements; the first to use full brass and reed sections; the first to tour Europe. Sidemen included many greats and future bandleaders—Bix Beiderbecke, Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, Johnny Mercer and Jack Teagarden. In late 1926, Whiteman signed the Rhythm Boys to sing for his band; Bing Crosby’s prominence in the trio helped launch his career.
Whiteman had 28 No. 1 records during the Roaring ’20s, and his version of “Ol’ Man River” with Paul Robeson on vocals would be inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2006.
By 1928, Whiteman was on the air when live radio programming was on the increase. He and the band made The King of Jazz for Universal Pictures in 1930, one of the first feature-length movies filmed entirely in Technicolor. As the band became more of a show unit, the size decreased, but as late as 1938, Whiteman’s personnel roster included 27 musicians and a vocalist.
When disc jockeys took over radio, Whiteman briefly spun platters on ABC. After television came onto the market, he made a number of special appearances and was Jackie Gleason’s summer replacement in 1955. In the early 1960s, he promoted sports car racing in Florida and California. Whiteman died in a Pennsylvania hospital in 1967 at the age of 77.
The Paul Whiteman Orchestra was the earliest dance band from the West to take the East Coast by storm.
16 Classic Performances
1932 – Willow Weep for Me
1921 – Make Believe
1934 – You’re The Top
1978 – A Paul Whiteman Concert
1920 – Wang Wang Blues
1920 – Whispering
1924 – Somebody Loves Me
The Complete Capitol Recordings
1928 – Ramona
1952 – An American in Paris
1954 – Rhapsody in Blue
1929 – Coquette
1939 – My Fantasy
1972 – Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra
1921 – My Mammy
1923 – You Remind Me of My Mother
1928 – Mississippi Mud
1922 – Wonderful One
1942 – Trav’lin Light
1923 – I’ll Build a Stairway to Paradise
1921 – Say It With Music
1924 – Rhapsody in Blue
1998 – Greatest Hits
1921 – Second Hand Rose
1991 – King of Jazz
1954 – All Time Dance Party Vol 1
1921 – Cherie
1924 – When the One You Love Loves You
1959 – The night I played 666 Fifth Avenue
1922 – Three O’clock in the Morning
1926 – Birth of the Blues
1954 – Cavalcade of Dance
1930 – Body and Soul
1933 – As Thousands Cheer
1932 – Grand Canyon Suite
1954 – All Time Dance Party Vol 2
1959 – Cavalcade of Music
1928 – Ol’ Man River
© Colorado Music Hall of Fame
© Colorado Music Hall of Fame