Beyond the Bandstand

Paul Whiteman (1890–1967) was by far the most commercially successful bandleader in the 1920s and was one of the most famous celebrities in the United States and abroad. His most consistent and controversial moniker was “the king of jazz,” which signifies not only his prominence but also that his success resulted in the economic and critical displacement of Black musicians. Whiteman’s entire career may be viewed as an attempt to establish an American musical middlebrow, a cultural register that would bridge symphonic and jazz music and that he understood to be White. This book investigates Whiteman’s role in shaping popular culture, from cafes to grand concert halls, behind the scenes with arrangers and music publishers, in the history of jazz style and reception, in the rise of celebrity culture and marketing, in the sordid intersections between Jim Crow racist policies and American popular culture, in the evolving norms of the music industry and its legal regulation, in the impact of American popular music in Europe, and in the centrality of music for the new media of radio, animation, sound film, and television. The book also details the reception of Whiteman and his music as documented in national periodicals and the Black press and by British journalists. The eight chapters in Beyond the Bandstand explore Whiteman’s broad impact on popular aesthetics throughout his multifaceted career.