Music Pick: King Oliver

Joe "King" Oliver (1881-1938), cornetist, band leader, composer, was the first great jazz artist of the recording era. Playing in New Orleans jazz bands starting in 1908, Oliver eventually led the top New Orleans jazz band along with trombonist Kid Ory. Racial strive drove him to friendlier climes in Chicago in 1918, but, in the greatest hiring in jazz history, he gave his vacated cornet slot to 17 year old Louis Armstrong, who otherwise might have toiled his career in second rate New Orleans aggragations. Then, in 1922, missing his protégé, he beaconed Louis to hop the IC for Chi Town to play second cornet in his now famous "King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band" killing white and black jazz fans alike at Chicago's Lincoln Gardens on State Street. The featured piece is Oliver's "Dippermouth Blues" from April 6, 1923 (Oliver's second recording session). That's Oliver, not Louis, on the cornet solo. The apparently unrehearsed "Oh, play that thing" shouted by Bud Scott became forever a part of the hundreds of subsequent versions of Oliver's most recorded composition. Louis loved the King who was his surrogate father as well as musical mentor. He always said, "No King Oliver; no Louis Armstrong". The Depression and bad gums ended Oliver's career in the 30's, where he toiled as a janitor in Savannah, GA and died broke.

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEF9QeHxrYw