Joseph Nathan Oliver, better known as Joe "King" Oliver (December 19, 1881 - April 10, 1938), was an American jazz cornet player and bandleader. In 1922 Oliver and his band went to Chicago, where they began performing as King Oliver and his Creole Jazz Band at the Royal Gardens cabaret. In addition to Oliver on cornet, the personnel included his Louis Armstrong on second cornet, Baby Dodds on drums, Johnny Dodds on clarinet, Lil Hardin (later Armstrong's wife), on piano, Honor矇 Dutrey on trombone, and William Manuel Johnson on banjo and bass. Recordings made by this group in 1923 for Gennett, Okeh, Paramount and Columbia Records demonstrated the serious artistry of the New Orleans style of collective improvisation or Dixieland, and brought it to the attention of a much wider audience.