Paul Whiteman did not play any jazz instruments, but led bands because he wanted to get jazz out to the people. He was one of the first band leaders to hire celebrity musicians in order to both liven up his band as well as get the public's attention.

Originally a violinist from Denver, Whiteman moved his band to New York after forming in San Francisco in the early 1920s. Soon after his move to New York, Whiteman gained the title of the "King of Jazz." Whiteman always disliked the title as he didn't do what he did for the recognition but instead as a service to the people.

Whiteman was almost the first bandleader to have black musicians in his band, but the times weren't right yet. If he had hired a black musician, surely the public would have scoffed at him and he would never get another gig.

One of his more famous musicians was Fletcher Henderson. Fletcher was essentially this band's equivalent of Bix Bierderbecke of whom I spoke of previously. However, Fletcher wasn't content with the sound of the Sweet Band and thus left to form his own group (I'll talk about them next lesson).

As you can tell from the linked video, "Sweet Band" is a very applicable name for the sound. The drums are never over powering and clarinets almost always had the melody. Tempos were never too quick and the volume was never too loud. In this way, the music was very conducive to the type of dancing white folks of the time were into.