"Who, called the ""King of Jazz"", was the leader of the most popular dance bands in the United States during the 1920s, commissioned and debuted George Gershwin's jazz-influenced ""Rhapsody In Blue"" in 1924?"
Rhapsody in Blue Rhapsody in Blue Rhapsody in Blue is a 1924 musical composition by American composer George Gershwin for solo piano and jazz band, which combines elements of classical music with jazz-influenced effects. The composition was commissioned by bandleader Paul Whiteman. It was orchestrated by Ferde Grofé several times, including the original 1924 scoring, the 1926 "theater orchestra" setting, and the 1942 symphony orchestra scoring, though completed earlier. The piece received its premiere in the concert, "An Experiment in Modern Music", which was held on February 12, 1924, in Aeolian Hall, New York, by Whiteman and his band with Gershwin playing the
1920s in jazz was something of a benchmark of jazz being seen as a serious musical form. John Alden Carpenter made a statement insisting that jazz was now 'our contemporary popular music', and Irving Berlin made a statement that jazz was the "rhythmic beat of our everyday lives," and the music's "swiftness is interpretive of our verve and speed". Leopold Stokowski, the conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1924, publicly embraced jazz as a musical art form and delivered praise to various jazz musicians. In 1924, George Gershwin wrote "Rhapsody in Blue", widely regarded as one of the finest compositions of the 20th