Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2008 - (Page 57)

King of Jazz Before there was Wynton Marsalis, before there was Louis Armstrong, there was Joe “King” Oliver, the first New Orleans superstar of jazz JOSEPH NATHAN OLIVER WAS A BIG MAN, proud of bearing and domineering in his command of both jazz technique and ensemble discipline. Born in the outlying country town of Edgard, La. on December 19, 1885 and raised in Uptown New Orleans, his father and mother both died by the time he was 15. Brought up largely by his half-sister, he worked early in his life on the household staff of a well-todo, Uptown New Orleans family and never lost the upright posture of a butler. Musically, he was said to be a slow learner, but a diligent student blessed with a good ear for remembering, note-fornote, whatever music he heard. He could also be taciturn and quick to anger. His rise in music was not meteoric, but an incremental and steady climb up the ladder of professional achievement in early-20thcentury New Orleans, beginning as a teenager in a neighborhood brass band for children. One of his first professional music jobs was said to be with Buddy Bolden’s former associates in the Eagle band. He later progressed to Manuel Perez’ Onward Brass Band and A.J. Piron’s Olympia Band, where he replaced trumpeter Freddie Keppard, the first New Orleans Creole of color to be offered a national recording contract (which Keppard turned down, much to the benefit of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band, who took the contract and made the first jazz record in 1917). Eventually, Joe Oliver established himself at Pete Lala’s prominent 25 Club with a band co-led by trombonist Edward “Kid” Ory at the very height of the popularity of Storyville, New Orleans’ notorious, legalized-prostitution district. When the district was shut down during World War I, Oliver migrated to Chicago, where his skill and reputation got him not just one, but two simultaneous jobs with New Orleans-style jazz bands. The bands had plenty of work and were playing to increasingly large audiences of Southern black migrant workers who began streaming into the industrial city in the years immediately following the war. Offered leadership of his own band, Oliver then proceeded to put together the first BY ROGER HAHN King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band, 1923, featuring Honore Dutrey, Warren “Baby” Dodds, Joe “King” Oliver, Louis Armstrong, Lil Hardin-Armstrong, Bill Johnson and Johnny Dodds. Fall 2008/LOUISIANA CULTURAL VISTAS 57 HOGAN JAZZ ARCHIVES, TULANE UNIVERSITY

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2008

Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2008 Contents Friends Editor’s Column Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities New Orleans Immortelle The Historic New Orleans Collection Highland-Fairfield: The Historic Heart of Shreveport The Ogden Museum of Southern Art Perils of the Mississippi River Louisiana Foodways Harvest of Life King Oliver: The Forgotten King of Jazz Louisiana Architecture Jazz Notes Louisiana State Museum Eye of the Storm Louisiana Association of Museums Soul Resin Bookstand Sound Advice Forum

Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2008

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