It is unlikely that anyone in jazz history has been as consistently maligned as Paul Whiteman. This recording hopes to put Whiteman's contribution to jazz in proper perspective and, by paying tribute to him, right the wrong which has been perpetuated far too long.

Bosh! to all of that. The Whiteman orchestral sound, as fashioned by three of the greatest arrangers that ever worked in the field -- Ferde Grofe, Bill Challis, and the Dean of African American composers, William Grant Still -- is one of the half-a-dozen most original jazz sounds ever to have been created, and it provided the perfect setting and inspiration for Bix: like a jewel set perfectly in the center of a crown. In its own way the Whiteman sound is as original and as beautiful as that of Duke Ellington's orchestra -- very different, of course, but no less magical, no less inspired. And let no one forget that Ellington and the other great jazz orchestra leaders of the late 20's spent a great deal of time learning from the Whiteman "book", emulating it and marveling at its instrumental sophistication.

Part of the beauty of this sound derives from the fact that it makes a much greater than usual use of the full range of "orchestral" instruments: beyond the traditional jazz band of the 20's a nine-piece brass section, a six-man reed section that played as many as 25 different instruments (from E-flat clarinet to heckelphon), variously-size violin sections, a wealth of percussion instruments, banjo and (often) two pianos and celesta. What is especially remarkable about this intrumentation is that it allows an arranger, if he so chooses, to cover virtually the entire six-octave range of our modern orchestra as it developed in the late 19th-century -- from the lowest notes of the tuba and bass up to the highest register of the violins and piccolos.