Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra

Paul Whiteman | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 18, 1993)
• Original Release Date: 2021
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Pearl
• ASIN: B000000X1Q
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #340,493 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Southern Rose

2. Merry Widow Waltz/Suite-Three Shades Of Blue

3. (A) Indigo

4. (B) Alice Blue

5. (C) Heliotrope

6. I'm A Dreamer

7. Nola

8. Deep Purple

9. Caprice Futuristic

10. South Sea Isles

11. Parade of the Wooden Soldiers

12. (B) Chinese

13. (C) Cuban

14. (D) Oriental

15. It All Depends On You

16. Parade Of The Tin Soldiers

17. Liebestraum

18. Park Avenue Fantasy

19. When You're In Love

20. A Night With Paul Whiteman At The Biltmore

See all 21 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Few people have had the impact on American musical taste that Paul Whiteman did in the 1920s, a direct result of his own energy and remarkably open tastes. He had a rare ability to lend an air of authority to novelty, somehow fusing the appeals of elitism and populism. This is an exceptionally good collection of Whiteman's work from 1921 to 1934, giving unusual insight into the range of his work. There are versions of the hits that launched his career--"Japanese Sandman" and "Whispering"--as well as engaging period pop tunes like "Dinah" and "Sweet Sue." Jazz flavorings appear in "Mississippi Mud," and there are also light classics like Franz Lehar's "Merry Widow Waltz" and Liszt's "Liebestraum." What's particularly striking, however, is Whiteman's fascination with composers straddling the realms of serious and popular music. His fondness for coloristic suites ranges from Ferde Grofé's "Three Shades of Blue" to Victor Herbert's "Suite of Serenades" with different national inspirations. He was an avid sponsor of George Gershwin's orchestral impressionism, and it's heard here in both the sway of "South Sea Isles" and one of Whiteman's several recordings of "Rhapsody in Blue." --Stuart Broomer

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Whiteman is under-rated, August 2, 2000

By 

Candace Scott (Lake Arrowhead, CA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra (Audio CD)

Paul Whiteman is no Jelly Roll Morton but his orchestra was huge in the 1920's, playing every night at the Cocoanut Grove nightclub in Los Angeles. Amazingly, Whiteman's music has held up beautifully through the years and the musicianship displayed here is excellent. Whiteman is best known today as the man who gave Bing Crosby (then with the Rhythm Boys) his first big break, but the songs on this album don't feature Bing, just joyous Whiteman orchestral music. This is a time warp if there ever was one. For those of us born forty years after Whiteman was a hit, this gives us a taste of the Roaring 20's.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Concert" treasures by Paul Whiteman!, January 12, 2001

By 

Lee Hartsfeld (Central Ohio, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra (Audio CD)

This outstanding Paul Whiteman collection consists mainly of "concert" pieces and arrangements from the 1920s and 1930s, all of them excellent and wholly deserving of reissue. Most noteworthy are Matty Malneck's wonderfully charming "Caprice Futuristic" from 1928, and Victor Herbert's "Suite of Serenades," originally written for Whiteman's 1924 "An Experiment in Modern Music," the famous concert that featured the premiere of George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue." Like "Rhapsody," these two pieces were orchestrated by "Grand Canyon Suite" composer Ferde Grofe.

Future "Some Like It Hot" song supervisor Matty Malneck is also represented by "Park Avenue Fantasy," the concert piece that yielded the popular song "Stairway To the Stars." And there is Peter DeRose's pre-pop-song concert version of "Deep Purple," another Whiteman commission.

The non-concert sides include "South Sea Isles," a very early George Gershwin tune in a very early Grofe arrangement, complete with musical quotes from Grieg and a great Dixieland-style ending, plus a joyous version of the DeSylva-Brown-Henderson classic, "It All Depends On You."

The label is to be praised for retaining the dynamic range of the original recordings through conservative noise suppression. The trade-off is a moderate level of surface noise, but the result more than justifies the means. These recordings sound great.

A "Volume II" is in order. Concert sides like "Soliloquy," "O Ya Ya," "Tchaikowskiana," and a host of others would make up a fine follow-up track list. Meanwhile, seriously consider this one!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Why he is forgotten today?, August 2, 2000

By 

Candace Scott (Lake Arrowhead, CA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra (Audio CD)

Paul Whiteman is no Jelly Roll Morton but his orchestra was huge in the 1920's, playing every night at the Cocoanut Grove nightclub in Los Angeles. Amazingly, Whiteman's music has held up beautifully through the years and the musicianship displayed here is excellent. Whiteman is best known today as the man who gave Bing Crosby (then with the Rhythm Boys) his first big break, but the songs on this album don't feature Bing, just joyous Whiteman orchestral music. This is a time warp if there ever was one. For those of us born forty years after Whiteman was a hit, this gives us a taste of the Roaring 20's.