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"Whiteman was also one of the greatest of all talent scouts. For over 30 years, he sought out and encouraged musicians, vocalists, composers, arrangers and entertainers who looked promising. It is worth repeating that Whiteman not only premiered George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" in 1924, but commissioned him to write it, much to Gershwin's surprise at the time."
why is it worth repeating that? the wiki, as it is, is very sycophantic, and the problem is that most of the claims are factually week. EVERY band-leader of the era was a talent scout, including bandleaders of later eras, every bandleader i know did at least as much as whiteman did in terms of looking for the best players and hiring them. (which is the logical obvious thing for a bandleader to do.)
there's also a kind of contradiction here that belies one of the problems with the wiki: it's stated that whiteman wasn't a big proponent of improvisation (?), preferring scoring(?), yet the wiki also states that whiteman made achievements in the domain of reducing the "repetition" of musical forms at the time. obviously, improvisation is one of the hallmarks of contemporary jazz during whiteman's time, and improvisation is one of the prime methods of variety in any musical performance. furthermore, the developments in key/rhythm(?)/etc that whiteman was supposedly responsible for were already present in contemporary music.
i'm not saying the guy didn't advance music as much as the next guy (maybe he did), but the statements in the wiki are very fluffy and need some work.
Last thing: I don't want to offend anyone, but honestly, i really have the feeling that whiteman was the "king of jazz" about as much as jack johnson's "great white hope" parade of challengers were the kings of boxing.
Per WP:V and WP:CITE, this article needs to have its source material referenced. Thanks. Mattisse(talk) 18:19, 3 November 2006 (UTC)
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— Save_Us_229 02:48, 2 January 2008 (UTC)
Postive camera comment: In 1930 "Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra" starred in the first feature-length movie musical filmed entirely in Technicolor, King of Jazz. The film was technically ahead of its time, with many dazzling camera effects
Negative camera comment:
Unfortunately, by the time King of Jazz was released to theaters, audiences had seen too many "all-singing, all-dancing" musicals,and much of the moviegoing public stayed away.
(It also didn't help that the film was shot as a revue with no story and not particularly imaginative camerawork.)
Was the camera work "dazzling" or not "particulary imaginative".
I think for its time the camera work was interesting. However, the real appeals of the movie now are the music, the fact that it early technicolor, and it is a historical document. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Dmalterman (talk • contribs) 19:52, 15 March 2011 (UTC)
Article has been tagged for needing sourcing long-term. Please feel free to re-add this material with appropriate references. Thank you. Doniago (talk) 20:41, 13 July 2011 (UTC)
Honors
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==Honors==
In 1974 the Paul Whiteman recording of "Rhapsody in Blue", released in 1927 in the "electrical" version by Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra and arranged by Paul Whiteman Orchestra pianist Ferde Grofe, was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Paul Whiteman had commissioned George Gershwin to compose the classic jazz standard. The 1920s classic was originally recorded on 10 June 1924 in New York as the "acoustical" version and was released as Victor 55225-A and B, on both sides of the 78 rpm release. George Gershwin played the piano with the orchestra on both sessions. In 1998 the Paul Whiteman Orchestra's recording of Whispering, released on Victor as Victor 18690-A in 1920, was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. The Paul Whiteman Orchestra had recorded an earlier version on 11 January 1928 that featured Bing Crosby on vocals. Whiteman was awarded two Stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, for Recording (at 6157 Hollywood Boulevard), and for Radio (at 1601 Vine Street). In 1993 Whiteman was inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame. |
Whiteman was a party to an important early court case involving the rights of performers (as opposed to composers) in public performance with respect to recordings. More information can be found in Broadcasting for, IIRC, 1939. 121a0012 (talk) 02:38, 28 November 2011 (UTC)
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Whiteman was probably Protestant and of Scottish, Irish, English, and Dutch ancestry, not Jewish, as the source for it has references and is approved of by Don Rayno, author the exhaustive and definitive 1600-page, 2-vol. bio, and Whiteman and Dallison are English names, so I made the appropriate changes. Capt. Ciel (talk) 17:19, 6 April 2019 (UTC)
Not Jewish. The same interview where Whiteman is noted as Jewish also names Harry James as Jewish. The interviewee's credibility is highly questionable on this point. Both jazz greats were Christian. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.1.66.253 (talk) 22:29, 24 April 2020 (UTC)
The article refers to him joining the Denver Symphony in 1907, but the article for that group states it was formed in 1934. Also, there are some references to music charts beginning in 1926, but it seems Billboard's earliest charts were a decade later, and I can't find anything before that. Not doubting the article's accuracy, but finding an explanation for these seeming discrepancies would be useful (something more specific than a vague reference to music charts, for example). MisfitToys (talk) 02:35, 14 April 2021 (UTC)
I cheated by using data I had already posted Year in music pages. I noticed MANY bad links, fixed many. There are several unreferenced statements I have to fix, and other mistakes. This article is old with many outdated internal links. Editors with your fancy scripts, pitch-in at will :-) Tillywilly17 (talk) 23:15, 4 January 2023 (UTC)
Rabbit-hole:
I found this one strange detail while looking around about this guy, Ed Otto - there's lots of information on the web (and a biography, and it's mentioned in his obituary) about his position as "co-founder" of NASCAR, but he isn't mentioned on either the Wikipedia page for NASCAR, or the page for its founder, Bill France Sr., and I don't see any results for his name on any NASCAR-owned websites. Apparently Whiteman was close to Bill, and apparently Otto had a 40% share in NASCAR's ownership at one point. I'm not sure if they're trying to erase him but it seemed odd. It seems Whiteman covered Otto's ass in 1954 so Otto's Jaguar could race - leading to the only time a European car has ever won a NASCAR event. Maybe they're still salty.
Also odd: I found some news articles (1, 2) about a cancelled 1956 concert, "Rock 'n' Roll Under the Stars," organised by Whiteman and at which Bill Haley & His Comets were due to play. Both articles mention an Ed Otto - the first as a sponsor, the second one as a concert promotor, but the second also notes that his name was Ed Otto Jr. The racing Ed lived from 1903/4 to 1996, and his son Ed Jr. from 1930 to 2019. So, chronologically, it could be that same Ed Jr., maybe Whiteman was helping the Ottos out, maybe the other way around, maybe some third thing. Cool coincidence anyway.
Ed Jr. wrote his dad's biography.
One cookie (talk) 15:13, 25 August 2023 (UTC)