Joseph Nathan "King" Oliver (May 11, 1885* – April 10, 1938) was an American jazz cornet player and bandleader. He was particularly recognized for his playing style and his pioneering use of mutes in jazz. Also a notable composer, he wrote many tunes still played today, including "Dippermouth Blues", "Sweet Like This", "Canal Street Blues", and "Doctor Jazz".
Joseph Nathan Oliver was born in Aben, Louisiana, near Donaldsonville in Ascension Parish, and moved to New Orleans in his youth. He first studied the trombone, then changed to cornet but he would continue to occasionally play the trombone on some recordings, including the other instruments alto saxophone and clarinet.
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From 1908 to 1917 he played cornet in New Orleans brass bands and dance bands and in the city's red-light district, which came to be known as Storyville. A band he co-led with trombonist Kid Ory was considered one of the best and hottest in New Orleans in the late 1910s. He was popular in New Orleans across economic and racial lines and was in demand for music jobs of all kinds. According to an oral history interview at Tulane University's Hogan Jazz Archive with Oliver's widow Estella, a fight broke out at a dance where Oliver was playing, and the police arrested him, his band, and the fighters. After Storyville closed, he moved to Chicago in 1918 with his wife and step-daughter, Ruby Tuesday Oliver. Noticeably different in his approach were faster tempos, unlike the slow drags in the African-American dance halls of New Orleans.
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After a stay in California, Oliver returned to Chicago and formed his own ensemble which included bassist Bill Johnson, trombonist Honore Dutrey, clarinetist Johnny Dodds, his brother, drummer Warren “Baby” Dodds, and pianist Lillian Hardin. King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band, as it was called, debuted on June 17, 1922 at the Lincoln Gardens Café in Chicago. Shortly thereafter, Oliver wired New Orleans requesting a second cornetist, his former apprentice Louis Armstrong. The new ensemble was a hit, captivating audiences with its deep rhythmic vitality, improvised polyphony, and unbelievable double-cornet breaks – Oliver and Armstrong seemed to improvise on the spot, in perfect unison.
Stylistically, Oliver was not the exuberant soloist that Armstrong would become; rather his innovations were largely in his use of trumpet mutes and effects. Directly inspired by Oliver’s “wa-wa” sound, the Harmon Company manufactured the now widely used Harmon mute. The “jungle style” popularized by Bubber Miley in Duke Ellington’s orchestra reflected Oliver’s mastery of the plunger, while the popularization of the Harmon mute forged a direct link between Oliver and such modernist trumpeters as Miles Davis and Harry Edison.
Oliver’s band set down the first significant body of records by black jazzmen, although accounts from the period suggest that the recordings only hinted at the power of the live group. Including several alternate takes, thirty seven cuts survived the period, most recorded during 1923. Oliver’s most acclaimed solo, featured on the song “Dippermouth Blues,” exemplified his uniquely vocalized style, and it was later orchestrated by Fletcher Henderson’s orchestra as “Sugar Foot Stomp.”
King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band prematurely disbanded in 1924, with Louis Armstrong on his way to New York. Oliver recorded “Tom Cat Blues” with pianist Jelly Roll Morton, and his new group, King Oliver’s Dixie Syncopators, made additional records. Oliver moved to New York in 1927 and found regular work at the Savoy Ballroom, though he also supposedly rejected a position at the Cotton Club, which instead famously went to Duke Ellington.
Suffering from pyorrhea, a gum disease, Oliver’s abilities declined, and he soon began delegating his solos to younger cornetists in his ensemble. By 1935 Oliver could no longer play at all, though he would continue to lead bands for two more years. Ailing and frustrated, Oliver settled in Savannah, Georgia, where, having pawned his trumpet and finest clothing, he maintained a small fruit stand and worked as a pool-hall janitor.
King Oliver died in poverty from a heart attack due to arteriosclerosis in a Savannah rooming house on April 8 or 10, 1938. He was too poor to afford treatment. His sister spent her rent money to have his body brought to New York, where he was buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx. Armstrong and other loyal musician friends were in attendance.
(Edited from blackpast.orc & Wikipedia. * Please note that a few sources state birth date as 19 Decemeber 1881 which is on his draft card)