The Olympia Orchestra was an American jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 dance band active in New Orleans from around 1906 into the late 1910s.

The Olympia Orchestra was founded by Freddie Keppard

Freddie Keppard

Freddie Keppard was an early jazz cornetist.Keppard was born in the Creole of Color community of downtown New Orleans, Louisiana. His older brother Louis Keppard was also a professional musician. Freddie played violin, mandolin, and accordion before switching to cornet...

, and typically held between five and seven members. The instrumentation usually consisted of cornet

Cornet

The cornet is a brass instrument very similar to the trumpet, distinguished by its conical bore, compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B. It is not related to the renaissance and early baroque cornett or cornetto.-History:The cornet was...

, trombone, clarinet, guitar or banjo, piano, tuba or double bass

Double bass

The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...

, and drums. This group established Keppard's reputation as a cornetist; when he left the group in 1914, A.J. Piron became its leader, and he added King Oliver as the group's cornetist.

Under Keppard, the group's personnel included Joseph Petit

Joseph Petit

Joseph Petit was an American jazz trombonist. He was the stepfather of Buddy Petit, and played in many early New Orleans jazz groups....

, Alphonse Picou

Alphonse Picou

Alphonse Floristan Picou was an important very early jazz clarinetist who also wrote and arranged music....

, Sidney Bechet

Sidney Bechet

Sidney Bechet was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer.He was one of the first important soloists in jazz , and was perhaps the first notable jazz saxophonist...

, Louis Keppard

Louis Keppard

Louis Keppard was an American jazz guitarist and tubist. He was the brother of Freddie Keppard....

 and Ernest Trepagnier; under Piron, they included Zue Robertson

Zue Robertson

Zue Robertson was an American early jazz trombonist from New Orleans, LA, highly regarded by his contemporaries and credited by music historian Orrin Keepnews as the trombonist who set the standard for all trombonists who followed.Robertson began touring with Kit Carson's Wild West Show in 1910...

, Clarence Williams, Billy Marrero (Lawrence Marrero

Lawrence Marrero

Lawrence Marrero was an American jazz banjoist.Marrero was born in New Orleans, Louisiana and grew up in a musical family. His brothers were Eddie , John and Simon while their father Billy was a bass player too...

's father), John Lindsay, and Louis Cottrell, Sr.

Louis Cottrell, Sr.

Louis Cottrell was an influential American jazz drummer. "Old Man" Cottrell was the father of Louis Cottrell, Jr. and great-grandfather of New Orleans jazz drummer Louis Cottrell....

.