Paul Whiteman - Linger Awhile

When Paul Whiteman raised his baton, fans of hot jazz invariably knew they were going to hate what proceeded from his orchestra. Whiteman forced the cards with his latter-day declamation "King of Jazz," so he earned a degree of resentment that most society-band leaders like Ben Selvin never experienced. Whiteman did possess two saving graces: a love of jazz that dated back to World War I (what he did with it is sometimes another matter) and either the ability, the luck, or the popularity to gather great musicians under the umbrella of his band. Read More