The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I recently bought a very clean 12 inch Paul Whiteman Potato Head record from Cliff (cdbpdx on the TMF). It recorded well and I used some techniques I learned recently with proper equalization and minimal click and noise reduction. I think this record is amazing in quality. A pretty laid back waltz it is perhaps not the most exciting music to listen to. But, that likely kept it from being played too many times which makes for a near mint record from 1928.

The vocalist on this record is Austin "Skin" Young.

[youtubehd]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fvj4LKdeelc[/youtubehd]

Great transfer! Thanks for sharing!

Nice record, but you can see why people today laugh when they read that Paul Whiteman was called the King of Jazz in those days. Bix was probably bored being there and just did it for the money.

marcapra wrote:Nice record, but you can see why people today laugh when they read that Paul Whiteman was called the King of Jazz in those days. Bix was probably bored being there and just did it for the money.

Of course, Whiteman crossed over into more "serious" music as a way to keep on his father's good side, but also as a way to introduce fans of the two genres of music to both types. Good grief, without Whiteman it's doubtful anyone would have ever heard of Gershwin, Grofe, or Dana Suesse, let alone Bix, Tram, the Dorseys, Venuti and Lang, Teagarden... sure, they may have broken through on their own but most would have remained studio musicians, and Gershwin could have wound up like Willard Robison... respected at the time for his compositions but pretty much forgotten today.

An aspect of Whiteman that a lot of people aren't familiar with is the fact that he encouraged his top sidemen to make records on their own... so long as they hired other Whiteman musicians for their sessions. The famous Trumbauer OKeh sides, for example, were all Whiteman backed... as were the Dorsey Bros. OKeh sessions, Bix's OKeh sessions, Venuti's OK sessions, etc.

Whether he's the "King of Jazz" or not may be open to debate from a purely musical standpoint, but from a standpoint of promoting jazz and recruiting top talent as well as encouragement of bigger ambitions by that talent Paul was indeed King.

Don't ever discount Whiteman.

Don't ever discount Ben Selvin, either.

^ Well put.