JOE "KING" OLIVER
(1886 - 1973)

Joe "King" Oliver -- a legend in Jazz history.  As a trumpet player, he was strongly influenced by Buddy Bolden whom he imitated, but Oliver soon became a Jazz stylist in his own right.  In the end, the designation of "king," which Bolden had long assumed, became Oliver's -- particularly after one memorable night in Storyville.

On that occasion, Oliver walked up and down Iberville Street playing on his trumpet the most varied and fanciful improvisations and defiantly pointing the mouth of his trumpet toward the cabarets and honky-tonks where such Freddie Keppard, trumpet, and Emanuel Perez, cornet, held sway.  They say that on that night, lovers of Jazz music began to drift out of all the honky-tonks to follow Joe Oliver on his march through Storyville into the Aberdeen Cafe where he was then performing.  They overcrowded the place to listen to Joe Oliver playing for hours at a stretch.

Before he left for Chicago in 1918, Oliver had played with various groups in which some of New Orleans best loved Jazzmen could be found.  Oliver was the benefactor of young Louis Armstrong, and much that young Armstrong learned about playing the trumpet in his apprentice years in New Orleans was learned from Oliver.  As Armstrong later recalled:  "We got all of King Oliver's extra work.  Joe was looking out for this boy."

David Ewen - All the Years of American Popular Music

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GOODTIME CHARLIE'S BLOG

MY MUSICAL LIFE
By Carl P. McConnell

Mabel McConnell talks about the Carter Family, Doc & Carl,
The Original Virginia Boys and the early days of radio.

Fowl Ball: An impressive flock of local and international showbirds gathered recently for an impromptu musical performance at the James D. Martin Wildlife Park in Gadsden, AL. You are cordially invited to watch.