Oliver, King (redirected from Joseph Oliver)

Oliver, King (Joseph Oliver), 1885–1938, American jazz musician, b. Abend, La. Oliver began his professional career in 1904 with the Onward Brass Band. After playing with leading bands in New Orleans and establishing himself as a master cornetist, he moved to Chicago in 1918. From 1920 to 1923 he led the Creole Jazz Band, which became the greatest exponent of the New Orleans, or "Dixieland," jazz idiom. Oliver's style was noted for its bursting, exuberant power and its great range. He strongly influenced Louis Armstrong.

Bibliography

See M. T. Williams, King Oliver (1961), and G. Schuller, Early Jazz (1968).

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Oliver, King

 orig. Joseph Oliver

(born May 11, 1885, Abend, La., U.S.—died April 8, 1938, Savannah, Ga.) U.S. jazz cornetist and bandleader. Oliver grew up in New Orleans and established himself as the city's preeminent cornetist, coleading a band with trombonist Kid Ory (1886–1973) before moving to Chicago in 1918. In 1922 Oliver hired his New Orleans protégé Louis Armstrong to join him in Chicago in his Creole Jazz Band. Their recordings together, including “Dipper Mouth Blues,” are jazz classics.