Paul Whiteman: A Retrospective

Paul Whiteman A Retrospective

Overview: Big-band leader Paul Whiteman was born on 3/28/1890 in Denver, Colorado, to musical parents. His mother was a former opera singer and his father supervised music for the Denver Public Schools for 50 years. He died 12/29/1967. The media called him "The King of Jazz" although critics said his music lacked the improvisational techniques associated with the genre. In Joel Whitburn's Pop Memories 1890-1954, he's called "the most popular bandleader of the pre-swing era." Whiteman joined the Denver Symphony Orchestra as a viola player in 1907 and the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra in 1914. In 1918, he conducted a 12-piece U.S. Navy band. He moved to New York City in 1920 and directed groups up to 35 at a time when most dance bands consisted of 6-10 men. He worked with RCA Victor (20-28, 31-37), Columbia (28-30), and Capitol. He produced more than 600 recordings and provided music for six Broadway shows. He launched the career of Bing Crosby, who sang with the orchestra from 1925 to 1930. Links: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Paul Whiteman Top 100 Songs Wikipedia

Awards:

Compilations: MP Masterpieces (covers 1920-27, released 2015) Top Songs Dave’s Music Database lists are determined by song’s appearances on best-of lists as well as chart success, sales, radio airplay, streaming, and awards. HB = Harry Barris, BC = Bing Crosby, JF = Jack Fulton, CG = Charles Gaylord, AR = Al Rinker, AY = Austin Young. Songs which hit the top of the U.S. pop charts are noted (#1). Click for codes to charts. DMDB Top 1%: 1. Whispering (1920) 2. Ol’ Man River (w/ Paul Robeson, 1928) 3. Smoke Gets in Your Eyes (w/ Bob Lawrence, 1933) 4. Three O’Clock in the Morning (1922) 5. Rhapsody in Blue (w/ George Gershwin, 1924) 6. My Mammy (1921) 7. Valencia (A Song of Spain) (w/ Franklyn Baur, 1926) 8. What’ll I Do? (1924) 9. Lover (w/ JF, 1933) 10. The Japanese Sandman (1920) 11. Somebody Loves Me (1924) 12. The Birth of the Blues (w/ JF, CG, & AY, 1926) 13. Wang Wang Blues (1920) 14. Stumbling (1922) 15. Say It with Music (1921) 16. Among My Souvenirs (w/ JF, CG, & AY, 1928) 17. Parade of the Wooden Soldiers (1923) 18. Side by Side (w/ BC, AR, & HB, 1927) 19. Lover, Come Back to Me (w/ JF, 1929) 20. Willow, Weep for Me (w/ Irene Taylor, 1932) DMDB Top 5%: 21. Oh, Lady Be Good (1925) 22. Linger Awhile (1924) 23. Hot Lips (He’s Got Hot Lips When He Plays Jazz) (1922) 24. Great Day (w/ BC, 1929) 25. In a Little Spanish Town (‘Twas on a Night Like This) (w/ JF, 1927) 26. You’re the Top (w/ Peggy Healy & John Hauser, 1934) 27. My Angel (Angela Mia) (w/ JF, CG, & AR, 1928) 28. Do It Again (1922) 29. I’ll Build a Stairway to Paradise (1922) 30. Bambalina (1923) 31. Without a Song (w/ BC, 1929) 32. Ol’ Man River (w/ BC, 1928) 33. My Heart Stood Still (w/ AR, JF, CG, & AY, 1928) 34. Body and Soul (w/ JF, 1930) 35. Together (w/ JF, 1928) 36. Song of India (1921) 37. Anything Goes (w/ Ramona Davies, 1934) 38. My Blue Heaven (1927) 39. Crinoline Days (1923) 40. My Romance (1936) 41. Cherie (1921) 42. Last Night on the Back Porch (w/ the American Quartet, 1923) 43. Limehouse Blues (1924) 44. You Took Advantage of Me (w/ BC, JF, CG, & AY, 1928) 45. I Love You (1924) 46. All Alone (1925) 47. Bright Eyes (1921) 48. Indian Love Call (1925) 49. Wagon Wheels (w/ Bob Lawrence, 1934) 50. April Showers (1922) 51. It All Depends on You (1927) 52. Trav’lin Light (w/ Billie Holiday, 1942) 53. Rose Marie (1925) 54. Just a Memory (1927) 55. Ramona (w/ AY, 1928) 56. All of Me (w/ Mildred Bailey, 1932) 57. Rise ‘N Shine (w/ Ramona Davies, 1933) 58. Moonlight on the Ganges (w/ AY, 1926) 59. Carolina in the Morning (1923) 60. I’m Coming, Virginia (w/ BC, AR, & HB, 1927) 61. St. Louis Blues (1926) 62. Wonderful One (1923) 63. There’s Yes! Yes! In Your Eyes (1924) 64. Manhattan (1925) 65. When It’s Sleepy Time Down South (w/ Mildred Bailey, 1931) 66. Learn to Smile (1921) 67. Charleston (1925) DMDB Top 10%: 68. When Buddha Smiles (1922) 69. Three on a Match (w/ Red McKenzie, 1932) 70. It Had to Be You (1924) 71. When Day Is Done (1927) 72. All Through the Night (w/ Bob Lawrence, 1934) 73. Broken Hearted (Here Am I) (w/ JF, CG, & AY, 1927) 74. The Man I Love (w/ Vaughn DeLeath, 1928) 75. How Deep Is the Ocean? How High Is the Sky? (1932) 76. I Never Knew I Could Love Anybody Like I’m Loving You (1921) 77. Mandy, Make Up Your Mind (1925) 78. My Man (Mon Homme) (1921) 79. It Happened in Monterey (w/ JF, 1930) 80. I Get a Kick Out of You (w/ Ramona Davies, 1934) 81. Journey’s End (1923) 82. Let’s Put Out the Lights and Go to Sleep (w/ Red McKenzie, 1932) 83. Make Believe (w/ BC, 1928) 84. Get Out and Get Under the Moon (1928) 85. I’ll Never Be the Same (w/ Mildred Bailey, 1932) 86. Chiquita (w/ JF, 1928) 87. Dearest, You’re the Nearest to My Heart (1923) 88. Changes (w/ BC, AR, HB, JF, CG, & AY, 1928) 89. Do You Ever Think of Me? (1921) 90. That Certain Feeling (1926) 91. My Moonlight Madonna (w/ JF, 1933) 92. C-O-N-S-T-A-N-I-N-O-P-L-E (w/ AR, HB, JF, CG, & AY, 1928) 93. Farewell to Arms (w/ JF, 1933) 94. Canadian Capers (1921) 95. Way Down Yonder in New Orleans (1923) 96. I’m Just Wild About Harry (1922) 97. Whispering (new version, 1954) 98. After You’ve Gone (w/ BC, 1930) 99. Chansonette (1923) 100. You Brought a New Kind of Love to Me (w/ BC, 1930)

Masterpieces Paul Whiteman

Recorded: 1920-1927 Released: December 17, 2015 Peak: -- Sales (in millions): -- Genre: big band jazz Rating: 4.658 out of 5.00 (average of 5 ratings)

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

Tracks in Chronological Order: Whispering (10/30/1920, 1 PM, 1 GA, 1 SM) The Japanese Sandman (11/13/20, 1 PM, 2 GA) Wang Wang Blues (12/4/1920, 1 PM, 5 GA) Grieving for You/Feather Your Nest (2/5/1921, 3 PM) Bright Eyes (4/23/1921, 2 PM, 1 GA, 1 SM) My Mammy (5/7/1921, 1 PM, 1 GA, 1 SM) Say It with Music (11/21/1921, 1 PM, 1 GA, 1 SM) Do It Again (6/3/1922, 1 PM, 5 GA) Stumbling (7/1/1922, 1 PM, 1 GA, 1 SM) Hot Lips (He’s Got Hot Lips When He Plays Jazz) (9/9/1922, 1 PM, 2 GA) Three O’Clock in the Morning (11/18/1922, 1 PM, 1 GA, 1 SM) I’ll Build a Stairway to Paradise (12/9/1922, 1 PM, 8 GA) Nuthin’ But (recorded 3/1/1923) Parade of the Wooden Soldiers (4/7/1923, 1 PM, 3 GA) Wonderful One (5/19/1923, 3 PM, 2 GA) Bambalina (6/2/1923, 1 PM, 1 GA, 1 SM) Linger Awhile (2/16/1924, 1 PM, 1 GA, 1 SM) What’ll I Do? (7/5/1924, 1 PM, 1 GA, 1 SM) Somebody Loves Me (11/1/1924, 1 PM, 5 GA) All Alone (1/17/1925, 1 PM, 1 GA) Valencia (A Song of Spain) (6/26/1926, 1 PM, 1 GA, 1 SM) The Birth of the Blues (11/20/1926, 1 PM, 6 GA) My Blue Heaven (10/15/1927, 1 PM, 1 GA) About the Album: Although it was released after the Beatles’ 1 and Elvis Presley’s 30 #1 Hits, consider this their predecessor. Those two collections are considered the ultimate assemblages of chart-topping hits, but Paul Whiteman’s Masterpieces is right up there with them, gathering twenty songs which topped the charts decades before the rock era took hold.

Resources and Related Links: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Paul Whiteman Dave’s Music Database: Acts’ Profile Pages and Best-of Lists First posted 5/13/2024.

George Gershwin: Top 50 Songs

First posted 12/7/2019.

Composer and pianist George Gershwin was born Jacob Gershowitz on this day 100 years ago - 9/26/1898 - in Brooklyn, NY. Died 7/11/1937 of a brain tumor. Worked with popular and classical music. Collaborated with his brother, lyricist Ira Gershwin, on more than a dozen Broadway shows. His songs “Swanee,” “I Got Rhythm,” and “Someone to Watch Over Me” are featured in the DMDB book The Top 100 Songs of the Pre-Rock Era, 1890-1953. For a complete list of this act’s DMDB honors, check out the DMDB Music Maker Encyclopedia entry.

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Top 50 Songs

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Dave’s Music Database lists are determined by song’s appearances on best-of lists as well as chart success, sales, radio airplay, streaming, and awards. Many of these songs have been recorded multiple times. Only the highest-ranked version in Dave’s Music Database is included in this list. There are also some songs not identified as being by any particular artist. Additionally, songs which hit #1 on the following charts are noted: United States’ pop charts (US) and Hit Parade (HP).

DMDB Top 1%:

1. Swanee (Al Jolson with Charles Prince’s Orchestra, 1920) #1 US
2. I Got Rhythm (Red Nichols, 1930)
3. Someone to Watch Over Me (Gertrude Lawrence, 1926)
4. Rhapsody in Blue (Paul Whiteman with George Gershwin, 1924)
5. They Can’t Take That Away from Me (Fred Astaire with Johnny Greer’s Orchestra, 1937) #1 US
6. The Man I Love (Marion Harris, 1928)
7. Summertime (Billie Holiday, 1936)
8. Somebody Loves Me (Paul Whiteman, (1924) #1 US
9. Embraceable You (Red Nichols with Dick Robertson, 1930)

DMDB Top 5%:

10. Oh, Lady Be Good (Paul Whiteman, 1925)
11. Fascinating Rhythm (Cliff Edwards, 1925)
12. Nice Work if You Can Get It (Fred Astaire with Ray Noble’s Orchestra, 1937) #1 US
13. Do It Again (Paul Whiteman, 1922) #1 US
14. I’ll Build a Stairway to Paradise (Paul Whiteman, 1922) #1 US
15. Love Walked In (Sammy Kaye with Tommy Ryan, 1938) #1 US, HP
16. Strike Up the Band (Red Nichols, 1930)
17. Do Do Do (Gertrude Lawrence, 1927)
18. Love Is Here to Stay (Larry Clinton with Bea Wain, 1938)
19. S’ Wonderful (Sarah Vaughan, 1927)
20. But Not for Me (Ella Fitzgerald, 1959)

21. Sweet and Low Down (Harry Archer & His Orchestra, 1926)
22. A Foggy Day in London Town (Fred Astaire with Ray Noble’s Orchestra, 1937)
23. Clap Yo’ Hands (Roger Wolfe Kahn, 1927)
24. It Ain’t Necessarily So (Leo Reisman, 1935)
25. Of Thee I Sing ( Ben Selvin, 1932)
26. Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off (Fred Astaire with Johnny Greer’s Orchestra, 1937)
27. Mine (Emil Coleman, 1933)
28. Liza (All the Clouds'll Roll Away) (Al Jolson with Bob Haring’s Orchestra, 1929)
29. That Certain Feeling (Paul Whiteman, 1929)
30. Yankee Doodle Blues (Billy Murray with Ed Smalle, 1922)
31. I’ve Got a Crush on You (Frank Sinatra, 1948)

DMDB Top 10%:

32. Bidin’ My Time (Foursome, 1930)
33. They All Laughed (Fred Astaire with Johnny Greer’s Orchestra, 1937)
34. Funny Face (Arden-Ohman Orchestra with Johnny Marvin, 1928)
35. My One and Only (Jane Green with Nat Shilkret’s Orchestra, 1928)
36. I Got Plenty O’ Nuttin’ (Leo Reisman, 1935)
37. An American in Paris (George Gershwin with Nat Shilkret & the Victor Symphony Orchestra, 1929)

DMDB Top 10%:

38. Shall We Dance? (Fred Astaire with Johnny Greer’s Orchestra, 1937)
39. Things Are Looking Up (Fred Astaire with Ray Noble’s Orchestra, 1937)
40. For You, for Me, Forevermore (Dick Haymes with Judy Garland & the Gordon Jenkins Orchestra, 1947)
41. Bess, You Is My Woman (Porgy and Bess cast, 1935)
42. I Loves You, Porgy (Porgy and Bess cast, 1935)

DMDB Top 10%:

43. How Long Has This Been Going On? (Bobbe Arnst with Mary O’Brien, 1927)
44. Isn’t It a Pity? (George Givot with Josephine Huston, 1932)
45. Slap That Bass (Fred Astaire with Dudley Dickerson, 1937)
46. I Was Doing All Right (Ella Logan, 1938)
47. He Loves and She Loves (Ella Fitzgerald, 1959)
48. Maybe (Nat Shilkret, 1926)
49. Anything for You (1921)
50. Love Is in the Air (1925)

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Awards:

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50 years ago: “Someone to Watch Over Me” charted

Someone to Watch Over Me Gertrude Lawrence

Writer(s): George Gershwin/ Ira Gershwin (see lyrics here) First Charted: February 5, 1927 Peak: 2 US, 5 GA, 14 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, -- streaming

Awards (Lawrence): Click on award for more details.

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Awards (Sting): Click on award for more details.

About the Song: A rag doll which George Gershwin found in a toy store ended up as a featured prop during 1926’s Oh, Kay! It stayed in the show for the entire run of 246 performances – the longest-running Gershwin musical up to that point. British star Gertrude Lawrence appeared alone on the stage in the second act, touchingly singing “Someone to Watch Over Me” to the doll. SS The “plaintive Gerswhin love song” MM was initially conceived by George as a “fast and assertive” melody, but he wasn’t satisfied with it until he slowed down the tempo. Then he gave it to his brother Ira, who penned lyrics around “contradictory proverbs, sayings, and clichés.” TY1 Deena Rosenberg wrote that it is “a song of wanting and seeking” SS and that “the yearning for someone to watch over us changes from childhood…[to] old age, but it is always there.” SS Lawrence would introduce the commercial recording as well, peaking at #2 on the charts in 1927. That year also saw charted versions from George Olsen (#3) and George Gershwin himself (#17) PM “as one of his few piano solos.” DJ Lawrence would also perform it in the 1942 film Young at Heart, the first of many screen appearances for this Gerswhin classic. It was also featured in the 1945 Gershwin biopic Rhapsody in Blue. DJ The song has “become a cabaret favorite and one of Gershwin’s most often performed songs.” DJ with versions from such diverse artists as Barbara Carroll, Dennis DeYoung, Willie Nelson, Sinead O’Connor, Linda Ronstadt with the Nelson Riddle Orchestra, Rod Sewart, Sting, Art Tatum, Sarah Vaughn, Brian Wilson, and Amy Winehouse. Resources: DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Gertrude Lawrence DJ David Jasen (2002). A Century of American Popular Music: 2000 Best-Loved and Remembered Songs (1899-1999). Routledge: Taylor & Francis, Inc. Page 178. MM Max Morath (2002). The NPR Curious Listener’s Guide to Popular Standards. New York, NY; Penguin Putnam Inc. Page 182. SS Steve Sullivan (2013). Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings (Volumes I & II). Scarecrow Press: Lanham, Maryland. Page 468. TY1 Don Tyler (1985). Hit Parade 1920-1955. Quill: New York, NY. Page 37. PM Joel Whitburn (1986). Pop Memories 1890-1954. Record Research, Inc: Menomonee Falls, WI. Pages 269 and 342. Related Links: First posted 2/5/2016; last updated 4/5/2023.

50 years ago: Marion Harris released “The Man I Love”

The Man I Love Marion Harris

Writer(s): George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin (see lyrics here) Released: February 3, 1928 First Charted: March 10, 1928 Peak: 4 US, 4 GA (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, -- streaming

Awards (Marion Harris): Click on award for more details. Awards (Ella Fitzgerald):

About the Song: In 1964, Wilfrid Mellers wrote in Music in a New Found Land that “The Man I Love” could “stake a claim to being the most moving pop song in our time SS In 1950, Sigmund Spaeth wrote in the New York Times that it was “the best popular song ever written.” SS The Gershwin brothers wrote the song in the spring of 1924 SS following George’s masterful “Rhapsody in Blue.” Deena Rosenberg noted that George used motifs in “Rhapsody in Blue” – including its conclusion – to craft the chorus melody for “The Man I Love,” which meant that the latter “almost literally picks up where the ‘Rhapsody’ leaves off.” SS Originally intended for the Broadway show Lady, Be Good! starring Fred and Adele Astaire, it was dropped JA when she couldn’t match the emotional demand of the song. SS The song was then slated for Strike Up the Band which never made it to New York, and then got bumped from the musical Rosalie SS before finally finding success on Tin Pan Alley. RCG George speculated that the song didn’t catch on because it was difficult to whistle or hum. RCG Eventually, though, it became one of the brothers’ most-recorded ballads. RCG Eva Gauthier gave the first public performance of the song at one of her concerts and it slowly gained in popularity when publisher Max Deyfus liked the song enough to publish it despite not being featured in a Broadway musical. RCG Helen Morgan then featured it in her nightclub act RCG and Marion Harris had a top 5 hit with it in 1928. Three more versions charted that year – Sophie Tucker (#11), Paul Whiteman (#15), and Fred Rich (#19). In 1937, Benny Goodman charted with a top 20 version of the song. PM The song was featured in at least ten films RCG including the Gershwin biopic Rhapsody in Blue (1945), the Billie Holiday biopic Lady Sings the Blues (1972), JA and New York, New York (1977). RCG Resources: JA David A. Jasen (2002). A Century of American Popular Music: 2000 Best-Loved and Remembered Songs (1899-1999). Routledge: Taylor & Francis, Inc. Page 128. RCG RimChiGuy.com The Old Songs (1900-1929) SS Steve Sullivan (2013). Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings (Volumes I & II). Scarecrow Press: Lanham, Maryland. Page 25. PM Joel Whitburn (1986). Pop Memories 1890-1954. Menomonee Falls, WI; Record Research, Inc. Page 546. Related Links: First posted 2/3/2014; last updated 8/15/2022.