Paul Whiteman

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dachshundonstilts
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Joined: Sat Feb 25, 2017 10:34 pm

Paul Whiteman

Post by dachshundonstilts »

I never understood why Paul Whiteman was known as the "King of Jazz" until recently, when I started listening to a playlist of 1920's jazz. Every time a Whiteman track came up in the shuffle, it was obvious that he was way ahead of most people at the time in terms of doing interesting and innovative things with the genre. After the sophistication of the swing stuff that came later, it's hard to see what the big deal was with Whiteman, until you hear him in the context of his pre-swing contemporaries.

Here are a couple of examples (regrettably out of context), from 1920 and 1930 respectively.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2TGo92wGiw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0GpOeM2MW0
"I feel so low, old chap, that I could get on stilts and walk under a dachshund." - Monty, It (1927)

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Kitty
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Re: Paul Whiteman

Post by Kitty »

I have some of his tracks on my phone. His music is good. I seem to like when Jack Teagarden is there (Not sure if he was always with Whiteman).
You trying to tell me you didn't hear that shriek? That was something trying to get out of its premature grave, and I don't want to be here when it does. - Phantom of the Paradise (1974)

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donnie
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Re: Paul Whiteman

Post by donnie »

Yes, he was ahead of his time, for sure. I always think of him in connection with Gershwin. And didn't Bix Beiderbecke play with him for awhile? There was some great jazz creative energy flowing in his vicinity in those days.

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dachshundonstilts
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Re: Paul Whiteman

Post by dachshundonstilts »

Don't know, but it wouldn't surprise me. I guess the best example of Whiteman's more sophisticated work would be the impressionistic suite "Metropolis." That was what I used for the more dramatic moments in the "Plastic Age" score.
"I feel so low, old chap, that I could get on stilts and walk under a dachshund." - Monty, It (1927)

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