J[A-Z]Z / p1ck ( Whispering | Paul Whiteman and His Ambassador Orchestra, 1920

Illustration by Wesley Raymond De Lappe (1887–1952)

“Whispering” was most famously recorded by Paul Whiteman and his Ambassador

Orchestra on August 23, 1920

Whiteman — Denver-born, ex-navy, and self-acclaimed “King of Jazz” — flourished

in popularity from a series of hits beginning in 1920 with his release of “Whispering”,

an eleven-week U.S. No. 1 hit, which stayed 20 weeks in the charts and sold in excess

of two million copies.

Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra – Whispering (1920)
John Schonberger / Malvin Schonberger

Whiteman never referred to himself as “King of Jazz” but was billed as such by managers

and record producers much as Benny Goodman later would be called the “King of Swing“.

Both Whiteman and Goodman openly acknowledged their debt to the earlier

African-American musicians and each employed Black Americans as composers,

arrangers and in Goodman’s case being one of the first to have a mixed stage band.

Paul Whiteman and His Ambassador Orchestra, Whispering, 1920