Paul Whiteman, Cultural Ownership, and Jazz Historiography in Dave Peyton’s “The Musical Bunch”

This chapter focuses on Chicago-based Black journalist, arranger, and bandleader Dave Peyton. In “The Musical Bunch,” a weekly column published in the Chicago Defender from 1925 to 1929“,” Peyton focused on the Black musical scene and on jazz, more broadly. The chapter considers the tension in Peyton’s writings between an admiration for Whiteman’s musicianship and stylistic achievements and an effort to acknowledge Black precursors, particularly James Reese Europe. Peyton was also keen to proclaim the potential of Black musicians to create successful symphonic jazz. He called out George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue as derivative music that he hoped Black musicians would soon surpass. Peyton’s admiration for Whiteman coexisted alongside his critique of persistent structural racism in the music industry.