Whiteman, who was originally a violinist, conducted a 40-piece U.S. Navy band in 1917–18 and then developed a hotel orchestra in California, which he took to New York City in 1920. He hired the best white jazz players, but he allowed little room for improvisation in his arrangements and greatly simplified jazz rhythms. He was successful as a cocomposer of popular songs during the 1920s and led his orchestra in Broadway musicals.

Whiteman commissioned George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue and conducted its premiere at Aeolian Hall, New York City, in 1924, with the composer as piano soloist. Whiteman also introduced the Grand Canyon Suite (1931) by Ferde Grofé, who had arranged the Rhapsody. The Rhapsody became Whiteman's theme, and he established the Whiteman Awards for compositions in a “symphonic jazz” style. The 1930 film King of Jazz was the first of four in which his orchestra appeared. Whiteman was the host of several national radio programs during the 1930s, wrote three books (Jazz, with Mary Margaret McBride, 1926; How To Be a Bandleader, with Leslie Lieber, 1941; Records for the Millions, 1948), and recorded extensively. His popularity waned in the late 1940s, but he came back as a television-series host in the 1950s and occasionally led bands up to the time of his death.