Buddy Bolden and the Uptown Bumps
"He really blew his brains out through the trumpet"-Jelly Roll Morton
Of all of the revenants…the ghosts…the mysterious musical legends whose artistry had a huge impact on their craft, even while leaving not much else in regards to legacy, Buddy Bolden looms the largest. Known to be the “inventor” of jazz…the first king of the Big Easy, who down in New Orleans blended the current dance music of his time with blues and improvisational practice…with danger and excitement: Buddy Bolden ushered in a new sound, a new world. And while he was never recorded, his style, his sound…his melodies…are deeply imbedded in currently practiced styles of Jazz and beyond with most performers acknowledging that yes, it was Buddy Bolden who started it all.
There is so little known about Buddy Bolden. We DO know that he was born on this day, September 6th in 1877 and that he died on November 4, 1931. We know that he took over the New Orleans music scene with his unique sound and loud-as-all-hell playing. Louis Armstrong was just a boy living on the corner of Liberty and Perdido where he could hear Bolden and his band play at the Union Sons Hall night after night, setting him on a course to take the sound to the whole world of unknowingly-awaiting Jazz fans. We also know the songs Bolden wrote, that have been passed on from generation to generation of musicians, including a composition called Funky Butt (more commonly known as Buddy Bolden’s Blues today) which is one of the earliest uses of the word “funky” in regard to music.
We know that Bolden was plagued with metal health issues. He attacked his mother-n-law who he thought was drugging him in 1906 and ended up at the Louisiana State Insane Asylum in 1907 where he would spend the rest of his days, supposedly after an alcohol-fueled public breakdown followed by being diagnosed with schizophrenia. Jelly Roll Morton claimed “that Buddy Bolden went crazy because he really blew his brains out through the trumpet.”
James Karst for Nola.com did some fascinating research giving snapshots of moments of the long time Bolden was in the asylum. While most of the papers in the asylum were destroyed in a fire, there has been discovered the “results of a psychiatric exam” in 1925 (nineteen years after he was committed) were he was found to showcase paranoid tendencies, talking aloud to voices in his head. Karst also writes about other papers that document a music program in the asylum, corroborating Bolden biographer Donald M. Marquis account that "Bolden did occasionally play during the twenty-four years he was at Jackson, and seemingly retained traces of his old touch and mannerisms." (Karst’s article is very much worth a read).
But besides that not much more is known, and with Perseverance Hall recently collapsing (#NotPersevering), a place that Bolden would often play, and the only place known that Buddy took residence in…deteriorating, even those few touchstones we have are waring away. But the music Buddy made lives on….and lives large. So large that cultural weavers attempt to create stories about him to try and make sense of the man and his life. There has been a movie—Bolden—that fictitiously tells the story of his rise and fall. It is a good film…a really fun, enjoyable jazz trip, where director Daniel Pritzker weaves incredible music and performances into almost every scene, using Winton Marsalis as consultant focused on celebrating the excitement within the birth of Jazz (with a few tunes he even penned for the gig); I love how the film conveys the sexuality Bolden infused into the music during its party scenes, taking a style that today may seem old fashion, and showing how it truly was a scandalous, raunchy new sound. Pritzker does is job in showing the revolutionary quality of Bolden’s art form as it cuts and switches through Bolden’s good times to his darkest times.
Author Michael Ondaatje creates another fictionalized story in his novel Coming Through Slaughter where he tells the Bolden story using a literary language that mirrors the improvisational feeling of his music…looking at the relationship of art, success and madness…painting another version of what our hero’s life might have been like.
But in the end, all we really have to grasp is Buddy Bolden’s music and the few stories that have carried through the mist and fog of his life. To celebrate Buddy Bolden today, on the 145th anniversary of his birth, here are a few recordings to dig into (click on the titles to connect to the music)…
Jelly Roll Morton’s Buddy Bolden story: During his epic multi-hour interview with Alan Lomax, Jazz pioneer Jelly Roll Morton spoke while playing the piano, running down his version of New Orleans Jazz history while singing the songs of the day and the people who were a part of it. His two reels about Buddy Bolden are powerfully insightful (if the link is down, let me know).
Jelly Roll Morton’s Buddy Bolden’s Blues (sometimes referred to as I Thought I Heard Buddy Bolden Say): Jelly Roll and Buddy crossed paths often in New Orleans, resulting in this great musical number, where Jelly Roll references among other things, why Buddy called his song The Funky Butt (it is more literal than you might think).
DON'T GO 'WAY NOBODY by George Lewis and his New Orleans Stompers: Lewis was deep into the New Orleans Jazz circuit in the 1920s and was a big part of the sound’s revival in the 1940s, recording this iconic version of Bolden’s Don’t Go ‘Way Nobody 1943 (see label for band members)
BUDDY BOLDEN BLUES by Doc Evans: Dixieland provocateur Doc Evans with his great band perform a sweet version of Buddy Bolden Blues. There are a lot out there, but this one has such a great feel….great improvisational conversation among the musicians. I have to say, I like the slowwwwed down Chris Barber Band version as well.
Uptown Bumps By: December Band: If you can get around the static sound embedded onto the digital soundtrack here…the performance of Uptown Bumps TRULY sways and swings. What is there not to like: you got the legend…Big Jim Robinson…on trombone…and Capt. John Handy and Kit Thomas Valentine. Heavies on the scene. They must call it the December Band because it is like the holidays are already here with musical gifts for all.
Happy 145th Birthday Buddy Bolden! Thanks for the Jazz…..
For further reading: A short history of the legend of Buddy Bolden
For further viewing: Trumpet master Ashlin Parker talks Buddy Bolden
The Buddy Bolden Cylinder
By: William Matthews
