King 602 Cornet Serial Number -
Marybelle Bailey
For sale by The H. N. White Company LLC this magnificent Cornet with its solid sterling silver bell is in remarkable shape for its age. The King Silver Tone Master Model Cornet is one of the most famous designs to come out of the house of Kings. The under slung tuning makes adjusting the third valve slide unnecessary, thus no finger ring is needed. This cornet has been fully restored. The finish is new baked on lacquer, clear on the body and clear lacquer everywhere else including the bell. There are no dents or small dings. The valves are in great original shape.
This King Silver Tone Master Cornet comes with its original HN White made deluxe style case. The case is in good shape but one of the leather straps is broken, the case will stay closed without it. The interior and exterior of the case are in great shape. The case also comes with its HN White King emblem.
Special Note: We repaired two knuckle dents from the third valve. Neither knuckles was there a hole or any penetration and we repaired the damage but also wanted to provide further protection by adding knuckle covers. At some point someone let a lose mouthpiece in the case dent up the third valve and knuckles.
We have had a lot of fun restoring this cornet and think that the gold leaf turned out amazing. If you are looking to improve your craft and sound then it is time to upgrade to the choice of professionals worldwide with the HN White made King Silver Tone Master Cornet. In order to improve your sound you must play with the very best equipment and todays horns do not compare especially with cornets. The King Silver Tone Cornet is a legend and that is because its sound was perfect for all venues. This Cornet sounds great with its mellow full tone that you can only get with a solid sterling silver bell. This cornet is in great condition and is ready to play!
For sale by The H. N. White Company LLC, this magnificent Cornet has been completely restored with no expense spared and every detail made as perfect as possible. The finish is new clear colored oven baked on lacquer which is our most durable finish. The engraving is crisp and clear with new gold on King and the flowers. All slides and valves operate smoothly. No deep scratches, or dents of any kind. The tuning slide and the third valve slide are stamped with the appropriately matched serial numbers. The valves are fast and responsive with no apparent loss of air pressure.
This King Silversonic Master Cornet comes with its alligator print HN White made case which is the coolest of the King made cases. The exterior of the case is in great condition. The interior is in great condition. The latches all work and the case comes with its original key. The case comes with its original interior and exterior King emblems.
This King Silversonic Master Cornet is in fantastic condition and is ready to play. If you are looking for a cornet that has a mellow full tone this is the cornet for you. Cornets in this condition are getting more and more difficult to find. This cornet is ready to play.
Joseph Nathan Oliver was born in Aben, Louisiana, near Donaldsonville in Ascension Parish, to Nathan Oliver and Virginia "Jinnie" Jones. He claimed 1881 as his year of birth in his draft registration in September 1918 (two months before the end of World War I) but that year is open to debate, with some census records and other sources suggesting 1884 or 1885 as his true year of birth.[3]
He moved to New Orleans in his youth. He first studied the trombone, then changed to cornet. From 1908 to 1917, he played cornet in New Orleans brass bands and dance bands and in the city's red-light district, which came to be known as Storyville. A band he co-led with trombonist Kid Ory was considered one of the best and hottest in New Orleans in the late 1910s.[4] He was popular in New Orleans across economic and racial lines and was in demand for music jobs of all kinds.
According to an oral history interview at Tulane University's Hogan Jazz Archive with Oliver's widow, Stella, a fight broke out at a dance where Oliver was playing, and the police arrested him, his band, and the fighters.
He was living in Chicago with his wife, Estelle "Stella" Dominick, whom he had married in New Orleans in September 1911. He continued to work at the Dreamland, forming a band there in January 1920, which included Johnny Dodds, Honor Dutrey, and Lil Hardin, the nucleus of his famous Creole Jazz Band. After Storyville closed, he moved to Chicago in 1918 with his wife and step-daughter, Ruby Tuesday Oliver (born 1905).[5]
Noticeably different in his approach were faster tempos, unlike the slow drags in the African-American dance halls of New Orleans.[6] In Chicago, he found work with colleagues from New Orleans, such as clarinetist Lawrence Duh, bassist Bill Johnson, trombonist Roy Palmer, and drummer Paul Barbarin.[7] He became leader of Duh's band, playing at a number of Chicago clubs. In the summer of 1921, he took a group to the West Coast, playing engagements in San Francisco and Oakland, California.[5] On the west coast, Oliver and his band engaged with the vaudeville tradition, performing in plantation outfits.[8]
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 protg Louis Armstrong on second cornet, Baby Dodds on drums, Johnny Dodds on clarinet, Lil Hardin (later Armstrong's wife) on piano, Honor Dutrey on trombone, and Bill Johnson on double bass.[5] 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. Because they were recording acousticly into a horn that was directly connected to the needle making the record master, Armstrong notably had to stand in the corner of the room, away from the horn, because his powerful playing bounced the needle off the master.[9] In addition, white musicians would visit Lincoln Gardens in order to learn from Oliver and his band. Because Lincoln Gardens was in Chicago's black neighborhood and only admitted blacks, the white players listened outside near the front door.[10] A prospective tour in the midwestern states ultimately broke up the band in 1924.[11]
In the mid-1920s Oliver enlarged his band to nine musicians, performing under the name King Oliver and his Dixie Syncopators, and began using more written arrangements with jazz solos. This band led by Oliver at the Plantation Caf was in direct competition with Louis Armstrong's Sunset Stompers, who performed at the Sunset Caf.[12] In 1927 the band went to New York, but he disbanded it to do freelance jobs. In the later 1920s, he struggled with playing trumpet due to his gum disease, so he employed others to handle the solos, including his nephew Dave Nelson, Louis Metcalf, and Red Allen. He reunited the band in 1928, recording for Victor Talking Machine Company one year later. He continued with modest success until a downturn in the economy made it more difficult to find bookings. His periodontitis made playing the trumpet progressively difficult.[13] He quit playing music in 1937.[5]
As a player, Oliver took great interest in altering his horn's sound. He pioneered the use of mutes, including the rubber plumber's plunger, derby hat, bottles and cups. His favorite mute was a small metal mute made by the C.G. Conn Instrument Company, with which he played his famous solo on his composition the "Dippermouth Blues" (an early nickname for fellow cornetist Louis Armstrong). His recording "Wa Wa Wa" with the Dixie Syncopators can be credited with giving the name wah-wah to such techniques. This "freak" style of trumpet playing was also featured in his composition, "Eccentric."[14]
Oliver was also a talented composer, and wrote many tunes that are still regularly played, including "Dippermouth Blues," "Sweet Like This," "Canal Street Blues," and "Doctor Jazz." "Dippermouth Blues," for example, was adapted by Don Redman for Fletcher Henderson's Orchestra under the new name of "Sugar Foot Stomp".[15][citation needed]
Oliver performed mostly on cornet, but like many cornetists he switched to trumpet in the late 1920s. He credited jazz pioneer Buddy Bolden as an early influence, and in turn was a major influence on numerous younger cornet/trumpet players in New Orleans and Chicago, including Tommy Ladnier, Paul Mares, Muggsy Spanier, Johnny Wiggs, Frank Guarente and, the most famous of all, Armstrong. One of his protgs, Louis Panico (cornetist with the Isham Jones Orchestra), authored a book entitled The Novelty Cornetist, which is illustrated with photos showing some of the mute techniques he learned from Oliver.[16]
As mentor to Armstrong in New Orleans, Oliver taught young Louis and gave him his job in Kid Ory's band when he went to Chicago. A few years later Oliver summoned him to Chicago to play with his band. Louis remembered Oliver as "Papa Joe" and considered him his idol and inspiration. In his autobiography, Satchmo: My Life in New Orleans, Armstrong wrote: "It was my ambition to play as he did. I still think that if it had not been for Joe Oliver, Jazz would not be what it is today. He was a creator in his own right."[2]
The Great Depression brought hardship to Oliver. He lost his life savings to a collapsed bank in Chicago, and he struggled to keep his band together through a series of hand-to-mouth gigs until the group broke up.
Oliver died in poverty "of arteriosclerosis, too broke to afford treatment"[20] in a Savannah rooming house on April 8 or 10, 1938.[21] His sister spent her rent money to have his body brought to New York, where he was buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx. Armstrong and other loyal musician friends were in attendance.[22]
This cornet is used but in very good condition! It shows cosmetic wear from normal use, including various scratches on the lacquer. Please see photos for appearance. Our technicians have cleaned and lubricated this instrument and it has been tested to ensure it is functioning properly.
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