Editing King Oliver (section)

===Work and influence===
{{listen |filename=Dippermouth Blues - KING OLIVER'S JAZZ BAND.flac|title=Dippermouth Blues |description=1923 recording by King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band featuring [[Louis Armstrong]] }}

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 (music)|wah-wah]] to such techniques. This "freak" style of trumpet playing was also featured in his composition, "Eccentric."<ref>{{Cite book|last=Brothers|title=Louis Armstrong|publisher=|year=2014|isbn=|location=|page=83}}</ref> One of his protégés, 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.<ref> https://qpress.ca/product/the-novelty-cornettist-louis-panico/ accessed 20/4/2024</ref>

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".<ref>{{Cite book|last=Brothers|first=Thomas|title=Louis Armstrong: Master of Modernism|publisher= W.W. Norton & Company |year=2014|isbn=978-0-393-06582-4|location=New York City|page=149}}</ref>{{citation needed|date=June 2023}}

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. 

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."<ref name="Satchmo" />