How Did Joe Oliver Contribute To Jazz

Joe Oliver made many contributions to jazz, but his pupil Louis Armstrong is probably the most well known artist. He grew up not knowing his real birthday, but he always claimed that it was on Independence Day in 1890. His younger years got off to a tough start. He grew up on the streets of New Orleans until he was mistakenly arrested for accidentally discharging someone else’s firearm. He was briefly detained, then sent off to a waif’s home. Soon after that, in the same year of 1912, he bought a coronet and asked for lessons from the bandmaster of his new home. Little did anyone, let alone Armstrong know, but that coronet would kickstart a jazz career that far overshadowed anything before it. Armstrong was inspired by Joe Oliver to play his instrument, and soon after joining Oliver’s group in New Orleans, he found himself playing second leading trumpet in Chicago on Oliver’s tour. Soon after, he married Joe Oliver’s pianist Lil Harden, and together they moved off to New York to make their own living. Before Armstrong, jazz was only an instrumental genre.

It died out around the time of World War Two, and never got the chance to be carried around the world by American troops like jazz had. In addition to that, Jazz developed in the culturally rich city of New Orleans, and that further influenced its development. Also, jazz, being exposed to international culture in a diverse city was simple and effective to learn worldwide. It incorporated so many different styles from around the world that foreign musicians could learn it and develop it easily. Therefore, if a United States musician wanted to collaborate with a French musician, that objective could easily be achieved despite slight variations influenced by their home countries. The steady beat would remain constant but the improvisation would vary which truly captures the true spirit of