I have been listening to recorded jazz and pop from the preswing period for close to 50 years at this point. My tastes are diverse and basically as selfish as anyone else's, which is to say I like what I like because it gives me, and not the guy next door, pleasure. This line of discussion about whether it was jazz is beside the point for me. I could pretend it engages me in order to please other people, but in fact, it doesn't, at all. Whiteman's band had a certain style that is, as Faulkner said of antebellum architecture, "heavily lightsome". It is never fleet on its feet, and it did not anticipate swing, and in fact could never have guessed it was coming. And yet... and yet... it is still a perfect way to hear pop tunes of the era in mainstream dance band performance, and another of the limited number of ways left to us to hear Bix Beiderbecke, Joe Venuti and the early Bing Crosby. For these alone, I do not feel the least need to apologize to anyone for liking Whiteman's late '20s band. These features redeem it.
My father's parents for some strange reason did not talk much about how life was when they were young. They were both born just after the turn of the century (1900s). But my grandmother did say one time in an off hand manner, that my grandfather wanted to go see Paul Whiteman play and he didn't have the money. A stranger pulled up to their house and wanted to buy to their two forsythia bushes. My grandfather helped the man dig them up and he paid them $25.00 for both of them. This was in the early 1930s. That was how my grandfather got his extra money to go see Paul Whiteman play. It seems a lot of money in the 1930's for 2 bushes but that was how my grandmother relayed the story. They must have been very large well established bushes.
Whitman's father was a well known music educator at the public schools in Denver. Denver was not a Southern city many African Americans in Denver were educated under Whiteman's father's supervision. His father was named Wilberforce after the famed English abolitionist William Wilberforce. It is a nuanced, mixed up knot.
If you're a huge jazzbo like myself it's even a deeper irony in that his music does not come close to the great black groups of the day imo. Looking forward to seeing this. [note the *"imo"* so chill with the replies :D]
How can one short sentence so thoroughly prove one's lack of understanding? I have a jazz collection of 2000 albums. For me, his music pales in comparison to many of his contemporaries. It's a matter of taste. Political views have nothing to do with it. Not that wishing death on somebody due to their political views is ok. You're incredibly limited both in intellectual and emotional capacity so this "conversation" ends here, but try to understand how others see you. If you succeed you will naturally crawl under a rock and not bother the world again.
Ivan Chiock; It only "has to be acknowledged" by those who have a need to beat that same old dead horse and stir that same old kettle of fish. Incidentally, jazz evolved from ragtime, which was an amalgamation of African syncopation and rhythm with European harmonies. Whites were playing jazz in New Orleans in the early twentieth-century, and were the first to record the music after Freddie Keppard turned down an offer from Columbia records. Moreover, half the stuff Stan Kenton ever played was heavily arranged, and yet his credibility as the leader of a jazz band is never challenged. The modern PC stance that jazz is completely improvisational and that blacks single-handedly invented jazz is horseshit.
Michael is an excellent analyst here..He really is a man of many, many talents.
I have been listening to recorded jazz and pop from the preswing period for close to 50 years at this point. My tastes are diverse and basically as selfish as anyone else's, which is to say I like what I like because it gives me, and not the guy next door, pleasure. This line of discussion about whether it was jazz is beside the point for me. I could pretend it engages me in order to please other people, but in fact, it doesn't, at all. Whiteman's band had a certain style that is, as Faulkner said of antebellum architecture, "heavily lightsome". It is never fleet on its feet, and it did not anticipate swing, and in fact could never have guessed it was coming. And yet... and yet... it is still a perfect way to hear pop tunes of the era in mainstream dance band performance, and another of the limited number of ways left to us to hear Bix Beiderbecke, Joe Venuti and the early Bing Crosby. For these alone, I do not feel the least need to apologize to anyone for liking Whiteman's late '20s band. These features redeem it.
My father's parents for some strange reason did not talk much about how life was when they were young. They were both born just after the turn of the century (1900s). But my grandmother did say one time in an off hand manner, that my grandfather wanted to go see Paul Whiteman play and he didn't have the money. A stranger pulled up to their house and wanted to buy to their two forsythia bushes. My grandfather helped the man dig them up and he paid them $25.00 for both of them. This was in the early 1930s. That was how my grandfather got his extra money to go see Paul Whiteman play. It seems a lot of money in the 1930's for 2 bushes but that was how my grandmother relayed the story. They must have been very large well established bushes.
Whitman's father was a well known music educator at the public schools in Denver. Denver was not a Southern city many African Americans in Denver were educated under Whiteman's father's supervision. His father was named Wilberforce after the famed English abolitionist William Wilberforce. It is a nuanced, mixed up knot.
What a totally cool first name 'Wilberforce'. I like it.
Love george Gershwin. He is amazing.
Rhapsody in Blue criterion blu confirmed! :)
rhapsody in blu ray
jazz does not have to be improvisational.
The irony of someone called Whiteman being named the King of Jazz had to be acknowledged
Ivan Chiok , it's just a name. Whites contributed as much to the creation of jazz as blacks. If you doubt me, read Richard Sudhalter's, "Lost Chords."
If you're a huge jazzbo like myself it's even a deeper irony in that his music does not come close to the great black groups of the day imo. Looking forward to seeing this. [note the *"imo"* so chill with the replies :D]
How can one short sentence so thoroughly prove one's lack of understanding? I have a jazz collection of 2000 albums. For me, his music pales in comparison to many of his contemporaries. It's a matter of taste. Political views have nothing to do with it. Not that wishing death on somebody due to their political views is ok. You're incredibly limited both in intellectual and emotional capacity so this "conversation" ends here, but try to understand how others see you. If you succeed you will naturally crawl under a rock and not bother the world again.
Hmm. "Had to be acknowledged" implies the basic "white man" joke hadn't been commented upon hundreds of times, in articles, books and in interviews.
Ivan Chiock; It only "has to be acknowledged" by those who have a need to beat that same old dead horse and stir that same old kettle of fish. Incidentally, jazz evolved from ragtime, which was an amalgamation of African syncopation and rhythm with European harmonies. Whites were playing jazz in New Orleans in the early twentieth-century, and were the first to record the music after Freddie Keppard turned down an offer from Columbia records. Moreover, half the stuff Stan Kenton ever played was heavily arranged, and yet his credibility as the leader of a jazz band is never challenged. The modern PC stance that jazz is completely improvisational and that blacks single-handedly invented jazz is horseshit.