OLIVER, JOSEPH

OLIVER, JOSEPH (KING). Jazz cornetist (11 May 1885 near Abend, Louisiana; 8 April 1938 in Savannah, Georgia). His family moved to New Orleans, Louisiana, when he was young. As a child he played in a boys' band and probably studied music with the bandleader Walter Kinchin . He first played trombone, then later changed to cornet. He began playing professionally about 1904 as a substitute in the Onward Brass Band. Thereafter he played in various local groups, including such brass bands as...