Hi Matt - as I commented earlier up this thread, I think Ellington was too much of a gentleman to criticise another bandleader, though I agree with you that the Duke's jazz was infinitely superior to anything Whiteman produced.

This is not to denigrate the power of Whiteman's music, which we can only hear today through very old and questionable quality recordings. The re-creation of Whiteman's scores by Dick Sudhalter in the early '70s demonstrated the huge warmth and sound of Whiteman's orchestra - and those of the period in general. It was very similar to seeing high quality black & white prints of early Keaton for the first time - staggeringly beautiful photography.