Whispering Paul Whiteman and His Ambassador O , 1920
Paul Whiteman’s 1920 mega-hit recording of “Whispering” (8/23/1920), a side which changed the direction of popular dance music. Not that Whiteman nor arranger Ferde Grofe owned nothing to Art Hickman, Earl Fuller, or other dance band pioneers—they very much did, but Whiteman/Grofe introduced a revolutionary level of variety (and, thus, excitement) to the dance chart. Gone were the literal verse/chorus repeats (Grofe often used a given chorus as a substitute refrain, via creative instrumentation) of Joseph C. Smith, Earl Fuller, and the Victor Military Band. All of whom I love and respect for their enormous contributions to the field, but it took THE genius arranger of the day to end any hint of monotony in dance music (though, for a while, Whiteman retained the “introduced” chorus routine, though this became redundant pretty quickly), and had Whiteman not nabbed Grofe, we’d never have heard of his orchestra. Come the swing era, Grofe’s ingenious theme-and-variation approach was old hat, which might explain Ferde’s disdain for swing. Yet, Grofe (along with Bill Challis and others) ushered in that era, whether that was their intention or no.
And YouTube is giving me a "copyright claim" on a pre-1923 78. Whatever.