Buddy Bolden
Source: Off Beat
It's only appropriate to open the jazz portion of the HMR Project with Buddy Bolden, considered by many to be the father of jazz, transforming ragtime into jass and blues. Born in New Orleans on 6 Sep of 1877, Charles "Buddy" Bolden was the king of horn too early for recording, but he played cornet with many jazz musicians who held his abilities in high esteem when jazz was only beginning to be called jass. Bolden had his own band in New Orleans for about seven years before being committed, in 1907, to a mental institution, at age thirty, for dementia praecox (schizophrenia). For his considerable stature in jazz, Bolden didn't leave a lot behind. Jelly Roll Morton's 'Buddy Bolden's Blues' is based on Bolden's theme song, 'Funky Butt'. Titled by bandmate, Willy Cornish, 'Funky Butt' was part of an earlier composition, 'St. Louis Tickle', copyrighted by Bolden in 1903. He may have written that w Theron Catlan Bennett. The Baby Dodds Trio also did a version:
'St. Louis Tickle' Ossman-Dudley Trio Victor 16092 B 1906
Bolden's 'Funky Butt' theme beginning at 0:40
'Bolden's Blues' Jelly Roll Morton 1939
'Bolden's Blues' Baby Dodds Trio 1946
Clarinet: Albert Nicholas Piano: Don Ewell
Bolden remained institutionalized until his death on 4 November 1931 [FindaGrave]. Among musicians of personal experience with Bolden were Louis Armstrong, Freddie Keppard, King Oliver, Kid Ory and Bunk Johnson, the last not to record anything until 1942 seven years before his own death.
Sources & References:
Lewis Porter (Bolden & Louis Armstrong)
Further Reading: Jazz Timelines:
Classical Main Menu Modern Recording
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