Paul Whiteman

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Paul Whiteman (front), 1947

Paul Whiteman (born March 28, 1890 in Denver , Colorado , † December 29, 1967 in Doylestown , Pennsylvania ) was an American band leader .

Life

Paul Whiteman was initially a violinist in symphony orchestras. In 1918 he became director of the orchestra at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco . With this orchestra he took on engagements in Atlantic City and New York City in 1920 and went on tour in Europe in 1923. The orchestra was almost symphonic in size and was very successful commercially. This allowed Whiteman to hire a significant number of young, white jazz musicians , many of whom made careers themselves as band leaders or soloists during the swing era in the years that followed. These include in particular Jack Teagarden , Frank Trumbauer , Bunny Berigan , Joe Venuti , Eddie Lang , the brothers Tommy Dorsey and Jimmy Dorsey as well as Bix Beiderbecke , Bing Crosby and his arranger Bill Challis . In 1924, the orchestra in New York premiered the Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin , orchestrated by Whiteman's arranger Ferde Grofé . At the height of his success, he and his orchestra formed in 1930, the core occupation of Technicolor - Revue film King of Jazz , in the Rhapsody in Blue has been integrated. Whiteman led the orchestra until the mid-1940s and then became music director at ABC radio .

From 1949 to 1954, Whiteman hosted the talent show Paul Whiteman's TV Teen Club, which was broadcast simultaneously on TV and radio. Charlie Gracie , Bobby Rydell and Leslie Uggams started their careers here.

Paul Whiteman's visit to the beach promenade of Scheveningen ( Netherlands ) in 1926 where he was a band conducted as a guest. Silent film from the two-week show Polygoonjournaal .

The sound of the Whiteman orchestra differed from the leading black jazz bands of that time in particular because of its sometimes very complex and varied arrangements , often with the participation of strings; However, a number of recordings are important for jazz history insofar as they document the beginnings of the above-mentioned jazz musicians in solos in many places . Whiteman's musical style is also known as "symphonic jazz". This sound turned out to be very successful, because Whiteman's first record Whispering from September 1920 sold almost two million copies and became the first million seller in pop music. With 3.4 million records, his Three O'Clock in the Morning , published in September 1922, was even more profitable. In addition to these titles, he achieved a total of 29 number-one placements in the charts.

Paul Whiteman was married to the film actress Margaret Livingston for the fourth time .

literature

  • Simon, George T .: The Big Bands . With a foreword by Frank Sinatra. 3rd revised edition. New York City, New York: Macmillan Publishing Co and London: Collier Macmillan Publishers, 1974, pp. 452-455

Web links

Commons : Paul Whiteman  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Broadcast Pioneer of Philadelphia , accessed August 24, 2019
personal data
SURNAME Whiteman, Paul
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American orchestra leader and band leader
DATE OF BIRTH March 28, 1890
PLACE OF BIRTH Denver , Colorado
DATE OF DEATH December 29, 1967
Place of death Doylestown , Pennsylvania