Joseph Nathan "King" Oliver (December 19, 1881 – 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". He was the mentor and teacher of Louis Armstrong. His influence was such that Armstrong claimed, "if it had not been for Joe Oliver, Jazz would not be what it is today."
.[...] Oliver and his band returned to Chicago in 1922, where they started playing in the Lincoln Gardens as King Oliver and his Creole Jazz Band. In addition to Oliver on cornet, the personnel included his protégé Louis Armstrong on second cornet, Baby Dodds on drums, Johnny Dodds on clarinet, Lil Hardin (later Armstrong's wife) on piano, Honoré Dutrey on trombone, and Bill Johnson on double bass. Recordings made by this group in 1923 for Gennett, Okeh, Paramount, and Columbia demonstrated the New Orleans style of collective improvisation, also known as Dixieland, and brought it to a larger audience.
(Read more at Wikipedia.)
Links to Peel[]
King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band-- "Dipper Mouth Blues" (1923)
In the later decades of his career, Peel played some of King Oliver's music on his programmes and chose two of his tracks for the Peelenium. A favourite seemed to be "Dippermouth Blues", which he played three times. The tune is considered one of the best of King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band's historic 1923 recordings (they recorded it twice in that year)[1] and no doubt Peel heard it first during his youth when he developed an interest in traditional New Orleans jazz.
As JP commented when introducing the track on the show of 07 March 1988, one of the reasons why it became famous is the shout of "Oh, play that thing!" near the end. Humphrey Lyttelton, discussing the track in his book The Best Of Jazz (London: Penguin 1980, pp. 43-51), observed that since the late 1950s "trad boom", "there is hardly an accent, from true-blue British to rugged Glaswegian, from guttural Teutonic to sing-song Oriental", which has not been heard mangling the ritualistic incantation "Oh, play that thing!"
Shows Played[]
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- 07 March 1988: Dippermouth Blues
- 1993
- 22 May 1993: Dippermouth Blues
- 1999
- 10 June 1999 (Radio Eins): New Orleans Shout
- 07 July 1999: 'Dippermouth Blues' (Peelenium 1923)
- 21 July 1999: 'New Orleans Shout' (Peelenium 1929)
- 16 December 1999: Don't You Think I Love You (unknown)