King Oliver

Birth Name:
Joseph Nathan Oliver
Birth Date:
December 19, 1885
Birth Place:
Aben, Louisiana
Death Date:
April 10, 1938
Place of Death:
Savannah, Georgia
Age:
52
Cause of Death:
Arteriosclerosis
Cemetery Name:
Woodlawn Cemetery
Claim to Fame:
Music
Associates:
A pioneering jazz trumpet and cornet player, songwriter and bandleader Joseph “King” Oliver played an instrumental role in the popularization of jazz outside of New Orleans. Though born in Louisiana, Oliver spent much of his career in Chicago, where he established his legendary King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band. Initially, the band included Louis Armstrong, formerly Oliver’s student in New Orleans. Ironically, Armstrong’s success ultimately overshadowed his mentor’s reputation as a jazz pioneer. As both a teacher and a musician, however, Oliver played an important role in the early history of jazz. Upon his death he was buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, New York City

A Very Sad Ending …

The end of Joe Oliver’s life was less than happy. His career-long dental problems, likely exacerbated by his habit of sipping sugar water “for energy” during performances, made it increasingly difficult to play the cornet. He lost his life savings in a bank collapse during the Great Depression, and spent the last years of his life touring with bands of increasing obscurity. Things only got worse when Oliver finally landed a long-term contract playing in New York’s Kentucky Club for pretty decent money, but made another bad decision when he passed up the chance to go to the newer Cotton Club because they paid less. Oliver unfortunately failed to take the powerful “Struggle Buggy Radio” broadcasts into account, something that Ellington, and his manager Irving Mills, did not overlook. The result was that Ellington’s fame grew while Oliver’s diminished. Later he was hired by the Savoy Ballroom before Chick Webb took up residence, but was unsatisfied with the pay. He tried to wangle more money out of management, but the end result was that he lost the job. Webb moved in as Oliver finally just gave up and moved back to Savannah, Georgia.

In Savannah Oliver was working in a pool hall trying to make enough money to buy an overcoat so he can get back to New York in the wintertime. But he never makes it. He dies, and there’s no money to bury him. Fortunately Louis Armstrong comes up with enough money to bury him at Woodlawn Cemetery in New York City, and he was pretty much forgotten until the hot jazz resurgence some 50 years after his passing.

Cemetery Information:

Final Resting Place:

Woodlawn Cemetery

4199 Webster Avenue

Bronx, New York, 10470

USA

North America

Map:

Map of Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx in New York City
Map of Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx in New York City

Grave Location:

Salvia Plot, Section 195, Range 16

Grave Location Description

Drive to the lower part of the cemetery (C-2 on the official cemetery map) and take Canna Avenue around until it turns into Heliotrope Avenue. Park and walk to the edge of the cemetery. King Oliver is buried in a shared grave and 2nd to the left of one of the large trees across from a red brick building on the other side of the fence.

Grave Location GPS

40.880349723923736, -73.87263773346578

Photos:

[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]

FAQ's

King Oliver was born on December 19, 1885.

King Oliver was born in Aben, Louisiana.

King Oliver died on April 10, 1938.

King Oliver died in Savannah, Georgia.

King Oliver was 52.

The cause of death was Arteriosclerosis.

King Oliver's grave is in Woodlawn Cemetery

Read More About King Oliver:

Videos Featuring King Oliver:

Watch YouTube video titled Shake It And Break It - King Oliver & His Orchestra (1930)
Shake It And Break It - King Oliver & His Orchestra (1930)
Watch YouTube video titled King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band - Dipper Mouth Blues (1923)
King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band - Dipper Mouth Blues (1923)
Watch YouTube video titled Riverside Blues -- King Oliver 1923
Riverside Blues -- King Oliver 1923
Watch YouTube video titled Tin Roof Blues
Tin Roof Blues
Watch YouTube video titled King Oliver's Dixie Syncopators - Deep Henderson
King Oliver's Dixie Syncopators - Deep Henderson
Watch YouTube video titled St James Infirmary : King Oliver and His Orchestra
St James Infirmary : King Oliver and His Orchestra

See More:

Antonio Salieri

popular name: Antonio Salieri

date_of_death: May 7, 1825

age: 74

cause_of_death: Effects of dementia caused by a head wound

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Antonio Salieri was an Italian classical composer, conductor, and teacher. Salieri was a pivotal figure in the development of late 18th-century opera. As a student of Florian Leopold Gassmann, and a protégé of Christoph Willibald Gluck, Salieri was a cosmopolitan composer who wrote operas in three languages. Salieri helped to develop and shape many of the features of operatic compositional vocabulary, and his music was a powerful influence on contemporary composers. Appointed the director of the Italian opera by the Habsburg court, a post he held from 1774 until 1792, Salieri dominated Italian-language opera in Vienna. During his career, he also spent time writing works for opera houses in Paris, Rome, and Venice, and his dramatic works were widely performed throughout Europe during his lifetime. Even as his works dropped from performance, and he wrote no new operas after 1804, he still remained one of the most important and sought-after teachers of his generation, and his influence was felt in every aspect of Vienna's musical life. Franz Liszt, Franz Schubert, Ludwig van Beethoven, Anton Eberl, Johann Nepomuk Hummel and Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart were among the most famous of his pupils. In the last year of his life he struggled with health issues related to a head injury and passed away at the age of 74.

Berry Oakley

popular name: Berry Oakley

date_of_death: November 11, 1972

age: 24

cause_of_death: Fractured skull due to motorcycle accident

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Berry Oakley, an original founding member of the Allman Brothers Band and was an instrumental part of the early Allman Brothers sound, with his bass chords defining some of the band’s most popular songs like “Whipping Post”, ” “Mountain Jam”, “Les Brers”, and countless others. During his all-too-short tenure with the band Berry contributed to some of their most important records, including The Allman Brothers Band (1969), Idlewild South (1970), At Fillmore East (1971), Eat a Peach (1972), and the first two tracks of Brothers and Sisters (1973). And while the classic ABB lineup only lasted three years, Berry Oakley was ranked number 46 on Bass Player magazine's list of "The 100 Greatest Bass Players of All Time". Sadly one year after losing Duane Allman to a fatal motorcycle crash, on November 11, 1972, Berry was riding with Kim Payne (a member of the road crew) when Payne took his Triumph motorcycle into a curve too fast and hit a Macon City bus. Oakley said he was okay after the accident, declined medical treatment, and caught a ride home. Three hours later, he was rushed back to the hospital, delirious and in pain, and died of cerebral swelling caused by a fractured skull.

Lead Belly

popular name: Lead Belly

date_of_death: December 6, 1949

age: 60

cause_of_death: Lou Gehrig's disease

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Lead Belly (born Huddie William Ledbetter) was a renowned American folk and blues musician. His life was marked by his powerful voice, virtuosic 12-string guitar playing, and a history filled with both talent and adversity. More than any other blues/folk artist, Lead Belly possessed and recorded a library of ballards, blues, dance songs and minstrels richer than any other performer this century. As a young man, Lead Belly developed a strong love for music and was influenced by a wide range of styles, including traditional folk, blues, and gospel. Unfortunately his life took a dramatic turn in 1917 when he was convicted of murder and sentenced to 35 years in prison. Released in 1925, Lead Belly returned to farm labor during the day and juke joints and honky tonks at night. Five years later he found himself back in prison for attempted murder. During his incarceration, he gained a reputation for his singing and guitar playing, and his performances caught the attention of a couple of folklorists, John and Alan Lomax, who recorded his music. This led to his release from prison in 1933. After being freed, Lead Belly followed Alan Lomax to New York City where he recorded over 200 songs for the Library of Congress and American Record Company. During his time in NYC he recorded such classics as “Goodnight Irene,” “The Rock Island Line,” "Black Betty" and “Midnight Special.” After serving a brief sentence for assault in 1939, he began working with other folk artist such as Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger and Brownie McGhee. He moved to Hollywood for a brief time but moved back to NYC for good in 1947. Separated from his southern roots, Lead Belly failed to build a black audience and what few records he did sell were to white, urban hipsters. He toured Paris hoping to build a European audience but that too was a financial failure. During what came to be his final tour he began to notice spasms in both hands. Diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease (ALS), he passed away shortly after on December 6, 1949 at the age of 60. In a sadly ironic twist, he was virtually penniless when he died only to have his song “Goodnight, Irene” became a million-record hit for the singing group the Weavers. Upon his death he was laid to rest at Shiloh Baptist Church Cemetery in Mooringsport, Louisiana.

Back to Top