Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra

Jazz bandleader, violist, composer and orchestral director Paul Whiteman was born in Denver, Colorado on March 28, 1890. Recognized as the pioneer of pre-swing jazz music – his nickname is the King of Jazz - he was the leader of the most popular dance bands in the 1920s, Paul Whitefield and His Orchestra. He had a series of hit recordings including “Three O’clock in the Morning”, “Whispering”, “In a Little Spanish Town”, and “Valencia”. As a composer, he co-wrote several songs that are now considered standards including “Flamin’ Marnie”, “Wonderful One”, “Madeline, Be Mine”, “Bonnie Lassie”, and “String Beans”. Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra also recorded many songs that are now considered jazz and pop standards. Although he was the catalyst for the swing movement of the 1930s, his career suffered when swing became the most popular genre in the US and beyond. By the 1940s, he was nearly forgotten and semi-retired from the music business. In the 1950s, three decades after his commercial heyday, there was a revival in interest in his music and he hosted his own television show, Paul Whiteman’s Goodyear Revue, for three years. Paul Whiteman died on December 29, 1967, at the age of 77. Since his death, the music of Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra has been reissued numerous times over the decades. Most of those collections focus on his 1920s and 1930s recordings but The Complete Capitol Recordings gathers together his studio and live sessions recorded between 1942 and 1951.

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