"Paul Whiteman was known as the King of Jazz, and no one as yet has come near carrying that title with more certainty and dignity." -- Duke Ellington

I note in that quote that Duke Ellington does not in fact state that Paul Whiteman was the "king of jazz". He makes a rather fussy and over-elaborate statement about how Paul Whiteman "carried that title".

Duke Ellington had classical pretensions - writing self-proclaimed "suites", dressing suave, playing concert halls. His music more than justified them, of course – his music was a hell of a lot more interesting than Paul Whiteman's, to say the least. And those pretensions were arguably sorely needed, being one in the eye for every racist in America who saw black people as less than human.

It's funny, I'd never heard anyone refer to Paul Whiteman as "king of jazz", and even though I'm a huge jazz fan I'm only dimly aware of his music - what I've heard hasn't made me want to hear any more. I think that epithet just goes to show how quickly such hyperbolic pronouncements get dated. The history of jazz criticism has always seen some funny critical calls which with the benefit of hindsight seem totally absurd. (That, say, Thelonious Monk or Albert Ayler "couldn't play", for instance)