1 00:00:02,440 --> 00:00:06,480 Speaker 1: Happy Saturday. This year, twenty twenty three is being marked 2 00:00:06,480 --> 00:00:09,680 Speaker 1: as the fiftieth anniversary of hip hop, and we've selected 3 00:00:09,680 --> 00:00:13,720 Speaker 1: Today's Saturday Classic as a nod to that theme. One 4 00:00:13,720 --> 00:00:17,480 Speaker 1: of hip hop's many precursors is jazz, and a key 5 00:00:17,520 --> 00:00:20,920 Speaker 1: figure in the development of jazz was New Orleans musician 6 00:00:21,320 --> 00:00:25,360 Speaker 1: Buddy Bolden, whose career as a musician was brief but 7 00:00:25,640 --> 00:00:30,360 Speaker 1: just incredibly influential and groundbreaking. And there are some sad 8 00:00:30,400 --> 00:00:34,080 Speaker 1: elements to this story. Buddy Bolden dealt with serious symptoms 9 00:00:34,080 --> 00:00:37,040 Speaker 1: of mental illness at a time when diagnoses were vague 10 00:00:37,080 --> 00:00:40,200 Speaker 1: and there really weren't many effective treatments, and in black 11 00:00:40,240 --> 00:00:43,600 Speaker 1: men in particular, mental illnesses were often viewed through a 12 00:00:43,680 --> 00:00:48,360 Speaker 1: lens of racist stereotypes. More recent research has also suggested 13 00:00:48,440 --> 00:00:52,239 Speaker 1: another possible cause of his symptoms. An article published in 14 00:00:52,280 --> 00:00:55,640 Speaker 1: twenty twenty in the magazine sixty four Parishes, which is 15 00:00:55,680 --> 00:00:59,400 Speaker 1: a project of the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, argues 16 00:00:59,520 --> 00:01:02,120 Speaker 1: the bold and symptoms may have been a result of 17 00:01:02,120 --> 00:01:05,920 Speaker 1: the nyasin deficiency known as pelagra, which was widespread in 18 00:01:05,959 --> 00:01:10,680 Speaker 1: poorer communities in the early twentieth century. This episode originally 19 00:01:10,720 --> 00:01:18,360 Speaker 1: came out December nineteenth, twenty eighteen. So enjoy Welcome to 20 00:01:18,360 --> 00:01:28,679 Speaker 1: Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production of iHeartRadio. Hello, 21 00:01:28,760 --> 00:01:31,320 Speaker 1: and welcome to the podcast. I'm Holly Frye and I'm 22 00:01:31,319 --> 00:01:34,400 Speaker 1: Tracy V. Wilson. So, a couple of years back, when 23 00:01:34,440 --> 00:01:37,479 Speaker 1: I was doing some research for a project completely unrelated 24 00:01:37,520 --> 00:01:39,800 Speaker 1: to the podcast, just kind of side projects that I 25 00:01:39,840 --> 00:01:42,840 Speaker 1: was working with friends, I came across the story of 26 00:01:42,880 --> 00:01:45,880 Speaker 1: Buddy Bolden and he immediately went onto my list of 27 00:01:45,920 --> 00:01:49,600 Speaker 1: future topics. And then recently, as you may recall, because 28 00:01:49,600 --> 00:01:52,640 Speaker 1: we aired the episode, we went to New Orleans to 29 00:01:52,680 --> 00:01:55,400 Speaker 1: do a live show at the National World War II Museum, 30 00:01:55,880 --> 00:01:58,040 Speaker 1: and while we were there, we timed it so that 31 00:01:58,080 --> 00:01:59,720 Speaker 1: we kind of made a little bit of vacation out 32 00:01:59,720 --> 00:02:01,320 Speaker 1: of it, and one of my best friends was there 33 00:02:01,320 --> 00:02:02,880 Speaker 1: with me too. Of my best friends were actually there 34 00:02:02,920 --> 00:02:04,440 Speaker 1: with me, but this one in particular, it was her 35 00:02:04,480 --> 00:02:08,520 Speaker 1: birthday weekend and she absolutely loves music and loves jazz, 36 00:02:08,560 --> 00:02:10,960 Speaker 1: and she wanted to hit all of the jazz spots 37 00:02:10,960 --> 00:02:13,200 Speaker 1: that she could while we were there, and I was 38 00:02:13,240 --> 00:02:16,359 Speaker 1: reminded of Buddy's story, so it kind of bubbled back 39 00:02:16,400 --> 00:02:18,520 Speaker 1: up into my consciousness and it seemed a good time 40 00:02:18,919 --> 00:02:21,560 Speaker 1: to finally give him a moment. And before we start, 41 00:02:21,639 --> 00:02:24,160 Speaker 1: I feel like we need to talk about him as 42 00:02:24,200 --> 00:02:29,320 Speaker 1: a challenging topic for historians because author Donald M. Marquis, 43 00:02:29,400 --> 00:02:34,040 Speaker 1: who wrote really the first and only comprehensive biography of Bolden, 44 00:02:34,720 --> 00:02:36,520 Speaker 1: noted early on in his book that when he was 45 00:02:36,560 --> 00:02:41,000 Speaker 1: researching Buddy's history and his family history, it became really 46 00:02:41,040 --> 00:02:44,320 Speaker 1: really apparent that there were some problems. For example, the 47 00:02:44,440 --> 00:02:49,400 Speaker 1: name Bolden had been spelled innumerable different ways on various documents, 48 00:02:49,440 --> 00:02:53,480 Speaker 1: so birth certificates, death certificates, and wedding certificates for any 49 00:02:53,520 --> 00:02:56,639 Speaker 1: one person might show the last name with completely different 50 00:02:56,639 --> 00:03:00,679 Speaker 1: spellings on each. For example, one of Buddy's aunts was 51 00:03:00,760 --> 00:03:03,920 Speaker 1: listed with the last name bolding on her marriage certificate, 52 00:03:04,240 --> 00:03:07,600 Speaker 1: but her signature on that same certificate clearly shows the 53 00:03:07,600 --> 00:03:12,400 Speaker 1: spelling of Bolden bolde n So even on that one document, 54 00:03:13,080 --> 00:03:15,800 Speaker 1: the names were inconsistent. And this sort of disparity is 55 00:03:15,840 --> 00:03:19,360 Speaker 1: all over the various records that exist related to Buddy 56 00:03:19,360 --> 00:03:22,240 Speaker 1: Bolden's life, even though there aren't really that many records 57 00:03:22,280 --> 00:03:25,760 Speaker 1: to begin with, and they also include things like age 58 00:03:25,800 --> 00:03:31,200 Speaker 1: discrepancies and address discrepancies. It's kind of all over the place, 59 00:03:31,240 --> 00:03:33,640 Speaker 1: and all of this, as well as Buddy's charisma and 60 00:03:33,680 --> 00:03:37,080 Speaker 1: talent as a performer, has contributed to a number of 61 00:03:37,120 --> 00:03:40,200 Speaker 1: falsehoods and a lot of mythologizing over the years. So 62 00:03:40,320 --> 00:03:42,480 Speaker 1: there will be a couple of things that we point 63 00:03:42,480 --> 00:03:45,920 Speaker 1: out along the way as unverifiable. We do know when 64 00:03:45,920 --> 00:03:48,680 Speaker 1: he was born, though Charles Joseph Bolden was born on 65 00:03:48,720 --> 00:03:51,960 Speaker 1: September sixth, eighteen seventy seven, we don't really know when 66 00:03:51,960 --> 00:03:55,320 Speaker 1: he got the nickname Buddy, though his mom referred to 67 00:03:55,360 --> 00:03:59,120 Speaker 1: him as Charles throughout his life. He was Wesmore and 68 00:03:59,200 --> 00:04:02,320 Speaker 1: Alice Bolden's second child. Their first child was a daughter 69 00:04:02,680 --> 00:04:06,160 Speaker 1: who was christened Latta but went by Lottie. She was 70 00:04:06,160 --> 00:04:09,320 Speaker 1: born two years before Buddy was and Westmore worked as 71 00:04:09,360 --> 00:04:12,320 Speaker 1: a driver for a businessman named William Walker, who had 72 00:04:12,320 --> 00:04:17,080 Speaker 1: employed Buddy's grandfather Gustavus and grandmother Francis as well, and 73 00:04:17,120 --> 00:04:20,440 Speaker 1: it's been speculated that Gustavus was born into slavery, although 74 00:04:20,440 --> 00:04:22,280 Speaker 1: that is one of those places where there is no 75 00:04:22,360 --> 00:04:27,440 Speaker 1: definitive documentation. But Gustavus and Francis and then Westmore and 76 00:04:27,520 --> 00:04:31,040 Speaker 1: Alice lived in servants quarters on Walker's property and they 77 00:04:31,080 --> 00:04:35,560 Speaker 1: were employees there, they were not enslaved by him. Westmore 78 00:04:35,680 --> 00:04:38,480 Speaker 1: had moved his family a few blocks away before Buddy 79 00:04:38,560 --> 00:04:41,240 Speaker 1: was born, and then moved back in eighteen seventy eight 80 00:04:41,600 --> 00:04:44,599 Speaker 1: when west Moore's brother Thomas moved out, and then they 81 00:04:44,680 --> 00:04:48,320 Speaker 1: moved away again in anticipation of their third child, Cora, 82 00:04:48,520 --> 00:04:52,480 Speaker 1: who was born in eighteen eighty Buddy's older sister, Lottie died. 83 00:04:52,680 --> 00:04:55,400 Speaker 1: She had encephalitis since she died in eighteen eighty one 84 00:04:55,400 --> 00:04:58,440 Speaker 1: at the age of six. His father, Wes Moore, also 85 00:04:58,720 --> 00:05:02,480 Speaker 1: died on December twenty third of eighteen eighty three at 86 00:05:02,480 --> 00:05:04,960 Speaker 1: the age of thirty two. He had come down with 87 00:05:05,040 --> 00:05:09,480 Speaker 1: what was recorded as acute plural pneumonia. For several years 88 00:05:09,520 --> 00:05:12,279 Speaker 1: after that. It's not totally clear where Alice and the 89 00:05:12,279 --> 00:05:15,760 Speaker 1: surviving two children lived, but in eighteen eighty seven they 90 00:05:15,839 --> 00:05:18,680 Speaker 1: moved into a home at three eighty five First Street. 91 00:05:19,080 --> 00:05:21,000 Speaker 1: But he was ten at the time, and if you're 92 00:05:21,040 --> 00:05:24,000 Speaker 1: familiar with New Orleans, that's on what's the twenty three 93 00:05:24,040 --> 00:05:27,480 Speaker 1: hundred block of First Street today. In the eighteen eighties, 94 00:05:27,480 --> 00:05:29,840 Speaker 1: the neighborhood had a pretty diverse mix of people, but 95 00:05:29,960 --> 00:05:34,360 Speaker 1: the residents mostly were Irish and German, and Alice, despite 96 00:05:34,440 --> 00:05:37,760 Speaker 1: being a single mother, wanted all of her children in 97 00:05:37,839 --> 00:05:41,559 Speaker 1: school rather than working, so Buddy attended school at least 98 00:05:41,640 --> 00:05:44,360 Speaker 1: into the early eighteen nineties, although the records are once 99 00:05:44,400 --> 00:05:48,080 Speaker 1: again a little unclear there. Buddy as Charles Bolden did 100 00:05:48,160 --> 00:05:51,479 Speaker 1: not appear in a city directory separately from Alice until 101 00:05:51,520 --> 00:05:54,520 Speaker 1: eighteen ninety seven, when he would have been twenty years old, 102 00:05:54,760 --> 00:05:57,040 Speaker 1: and at that point he was listed as a plasterer, 103 00:05:57,480 --> 00:06:00,000 Speaker 1: although in reality he was taking a variety of ten 104 00:06:00,320 --> 00:06:03,280 Speaker 1: jobs to make ends meet. While Bolden grew up in 105 00:06:03,320 --> 00:06:05,880 Speaker 1: a city that was just full of music, he didn't 106 00:06:05,880 --> 00:06:08,560 Speaker 1: start taking cornette lessons until a little later. That was 107 00:06:08,600 --> 00:06:12,200 Speaker 1: in the mid eighteen nineties from a neighbor named Manuel Hall, 108 00:06:12,560 --> 00:06:14,600 Speaker 1: who worked as a cook in the French Quarter and 109 00:06:14,640 --> 00:06:17,760 Speaker 1: who was close with Buddy's mother Alice. Yeah, it appears 110 00:06:17,760 --> 00:06:23,159 Speaker 1: that Alice and Manuel probably were romantically linked at some 111 00:06:23,240 --> 00:06:26,800 Speaker 1: point and possibly for a long ongoing time. Sometimes he 112 00:06:27,000 --> 00:06:29,400 Speaker 1: is kind of referred to almost as a father figure 113 00:06:29,480 --> 00:06:33,280 Speaker 1: in Buddy Bolden's life, and it was with Manuel Hall 114 00:06:33,440 --> 00:06:36,559 Speaker 1: that Buddy first played in a band. He also joined 115 00:06:36,600 --> 00:06:39,440 Speaker 1: up with Charlie Galloway, a neighbor about eight years older 116 00:06:39,480 --> 00:06:41,919 Speaker 1: than he was, who had a barber shop. At this point, 117 00:06:41,960 --> 00:06:45,880 Speaker 1: barber shops were common meeting places for musicians, so much 118 00:06:45,920 --> 00:06:48,680 Speaker 1: so that part of the Buddy Bolden mythology that has 119 00:06:48,720 --> 00:06:52,200 Speaker 1: been repeated over the years spread the false information that 120 00:06:52,240 --> 00:06:55,080 Speaker 1: he was a barber, because surely he was spending all 121 00:06:55,120 --> 00:06:57,520 Speaker 1: this time in barber shops. He was not a barber. 122 00:06:58,000 --> 00:07:00,360 Speaker 1: That is just a location where people met. There was 123 00:07:00,440 --> 00:07:02,920 Speaker 1: kind of an ongoing shuffling going on at the time, 124 00:07:02,920 --> 00:07:05,520 Speaker 1: and the bands that Buddy was part of, some of 125 00:07:05,560 --> 00:07:08,200 Speaker 1: them formed really loosely just to play for a particular 126 00:07:08,240 --> 00:07:11,760 Speaker 1: party or dance, and then others went through ongoing reorganization 127 00:07:11,840 --> 00:07:14,080 Speaker 1: as the members disagreed on the sound, with the style, 128 00:07:14,520 --> 00:07:17,000 Speaker 1: or just moved on to other groups. Yeah. I feel 129 00:07:17,000 --> 00:07:22,480 Speaker 1: like if anybody ever played in non orchestra type bands 130 00:07:22,560 --> 00:07:25,200 Speaker 1: in high school, they know this dance all too well, 131 00:07:25,800 --> 00:07:28,760 Speaker 1: of bands falling apart and reforming and other people meeting 132 00:07:28,840 --> 00:07:31,720 Speaker 1: up and playing in a band for a night or two. 133 00:07:32,160 --> 00:07:35,960 Speaker 1: But Buddy and Galloway started playing together not long after 134 00:07:36,000 --> 00:07:38,400 Speaker 1: Buddy had picked up the Cornett. It is believed that 135 00:07:38,440 --> 00:07:41,440 Speaker 1: Buddy made appearances with Galloway's band as early as eighteen 136 00:07:41,560 --> 00:07:43,680 Speaker 1: ninety four, so that was the year that he first 137 00:07:43,680 --> 00:07:47,640 Speaker 1: started taking lessons, and as Buddy began performing around the city, 138 00:07:47,720 --> 00:07:50,360 Speaker 1: he got really good, really fast, and he garnered a 139 00:07:50,400 --> 00:07:54,000 Speaker 1: following for himself. He always had a bevy of young 140 00:07:54,040 --> 00:07:56,760 Speaker 1: women who were happy to hang around near the bandstand 141 00:07:56,840 --> 00:08:00,600 Speaker 1: and hold his things, and Buddy definitely enjoyed this attention, 142 00:08:00,800 --> 00:08:03,520 Speaker 1: and he was romantically linked to a number of ladies 143 00:08:03,560 --> 00:08:06,920 Speaker 1: in the second half of the eighteen nineties, and one woman, 144 00:08:07,120 --> 00:08:10,680 Speaker 1: Hattie Oliver, who was older than Buddy, kept regular company 145 00:08:10,720 --> 00:08:14,240 Speaker 1: with the musician. In eighteen ninety seven, Hattie and Buddy 146 00:08:14,280 --> 00:08:18,080 Speaker 1: had a child, Charles Joseph Bolden Junior. This wasn't the 147 00:08:18,120 --> 00:08:21,440 Speaker 1: beginning of a family scenario, though, Buddy and Hattie weren't married, 148 00:08:21,440 --> 00:08:23,840 Speaker 1: and while he did try to financially support them for 149 00:08:23,880 --> 00:08:26,800 Speaker 1: a while, it didn't really last. Hattie went by the 150 00:08:26,880 --> 00:08:30,120 Speaker 1: name Hattie Bolden for a while in a common law arrangement, 151 00:08:30,160 --> 00:08:32,319 Speaker 1: but by nineteen hundred she was back to going by 152 00:08:32,320 --> 00:08:36,360 Speaker 1: Hattie Oliver. By nineteen hundred, also, just six years after 153 00:08:36,400 --> 00:08:39,920 Speaker 1: he first started taking lessons with Manuel Hall, Buddy had 154 00:08:39,920 --> 00:08:42,760 Speaker 1: built a pretty significant name for himself on the New 155 00:08:42,880 --> 00:08:46,880 Speaker 1: Orleans music scene. He was doing things differently than musicians 156 00:08:46,960 --> 00:08:50,800 Speaker 1: before him had. He played differently and he arranged songs differently. 157 00:08:51,000 --> 00:08:52,400 Speaker 1: We're going to talk about that a little bit more 158 00:08:52,400 --> 00:08:55,320 Speaker 1: towards the end of the episode. And while the people 159 00:08:55,320 --> 00:08:57,920 Speaker 1: that he played with had been a fluid group, things 160 00:08:58,000 --> 00:09:00,800 Speaker 1: started to get some consistency in terms of band members 161 00:09:00,840 --> 00:09:03,679 Speaker 1: at the turn of the century. Willie Cornish, who had 162 00:09:03,679 --> 00:09:06,240 Speaker 1: come and gone through Buddy's band before, came back in 163 00:09:06,280 --> 00:09:09,880 Speaker 1: eighteen ninety nine and played the trombone. Jimmy Johnson played 164 00:09:09,880 --> 00:09:12,320 Speaker 1: the bass and was the youngest member of the band. 165 00:09:12,840 --> 00:09:15,320 Speaker 1: He could often be seen bicycling through the town on 166 00:09:15,360 --> 00:09:17,280 Speaker 1: the way to gigs with his bass on his back, 167 00:09:17,520 --> 00:09:21,480 Speaker 1: which delights me. There were two clarinet players, William Warner 168 00:09:21,559 --> 00:09:23,840 Speaker 1: and on the cea clarinet and Frank Lewis on the 169 00:09:23,840 --> 00:09:28,400 Speaker 1: B flat clarinet. Jefferson Mumford played guitar, and Cornelius Tillman 170 00:09:28,440 --> 00:09:32,119 Speaker 1: became the regular drummer after he and Henry Zino alternated 171 00:09:32,160 --> 00:09:34,200 Speaker 1: in that position for a while. Yeah, there is a 172 00:09:34,800 --> 00:09:37,800 Speaker 1: I did not end up including it in this episode, 173 00:09:37,840 --> 00:09:40,880 Speaker 1: just in terms of time. It became a whole scope shift. 174 00:09:40,920 --> 00:09:42,640 Speaker 1: If we tried to do it. But there is like 175 00:09:42,760 --> 00:09:47,840 Speaker 1: one photograph of this band, although Cornelius Tillman isn't in it, 176 00:09:48,200 --> 00:09:50,560 Speaker 1: and it is one of those sort of history mysteries. 177 00:09:50,600 --> 00:09:52,480 Speaker 1: Will include a link to a paper about it in 178 00:09:52,520 --> 00:09:56,280 Speaker 1: our show notes where no one can decide how this 179 00:09:56,320 --> 00:10:00,280 Speaker 1: photograph should be flipped, because initially people saw it and thought, oh, 180 00:10:00,280 --> 00:10:03,880 Speaker 1: that looks like people are playing left handed. This must 181 00:10:03,920 --> 00:10:05,920 Speaker 1: be wrong, we'll flip it, And then they realized if 182 00:10:05,960 --> 00:10:07,920 Speaker 1: they flipped it, it looked like two other band members 183 00:10:07,960 --> 00:10:10,400 Speaker 1: were playing left handed, and this has been the source 184 00:10:10,400 --> 00:10:14,000 Speaker 1: of much discussion and analysis for years and years and years. 185 00:10:14,840 --> 00:10:17,160 Speaker 1: But it's also the possibility that it's just a posed 186 00:10:17,200 --> 00:10:20,040 Speaker 1: picture where they weren't holding their instruments naturally the way 187 00:10:20,080 --> 00:10:22,480 Speaker 1: they would when they were playing. So we'll link to 188 00:10:22,520 --> 00:10:24,920 Speaker 1: that paper because it's quite delightful. But in a moment, 189 00:10:24,960 --> 00:10:27,079 Speaker 1: we're going to talk about the area of New Orleans 190 00:10:27,120 --> 00:10:30,200 Speaker 1: that is very closely linked to Buddy's success. But first 191 00:10:30,240 --> 00:10:31,800 Speaker 1: we are going to pause for a word from one 192 00:10:31,800 --> 00:10:44,720 Speaker 1: of the sponsors that keeps this show going. Muddy Bolden's 193 00:10:44,760 --> 00:10:47,760 Speaker 1: story goes hand in hand with another story of New 194 00:10:47,840 --> 00:10:50,280 Speaker 1: Orleans at the time, and that is the red light 195 00:10:50,440 --> 00:10:53,760 Speaker 1: or vice district known as Storyville, and the city had 196 00:10:53,800 --> 00:10:57,640 Speaker 1: several such districts going back to the eighteen fifties, but Storyville, 197 00:10:57,640 --> 00:11:00,400 Speaker 1: which formed in eighteen ninety seven, was the last and 198 00:11:00,440 --> 00:11:03,600 Speaker 1: the smallest of them. In the so called busy season, 199 00:11:03,679 --> 00:11:06,480 Speaker 1: which was tied to the horse racing calendar, as many 200 00:11:06,520 --> 00:11:09,959 Speaker 1: as three thousand sex workers were working in Storyville's brothels, 201 00:11:10,160 --> 00:11:13,200 Speaker 1: which were defined by a city ordinance put forth by 202 00:11:13,240 --> 00:11:16,880 Speaker 1: Alderman Sidney story that made it illegal for vice businesses 203 00:11:16,920 --> 00:11:20,400 Speaker 1: to operate outside the limits of certain blocks. It's kind 204 00:11:20,440 --> 00:11:23,160 Speaker 1: of an interesting thing because it doesn't say if you're 205 00:11:23,200 --> 00:11:25,480 Speaker 1: in this space you can be doing these things. It 206 00:11:25,640 --> 00:11:28,040 Speaker 1: just says if you're outside this space, you can't be 207 00:11:28,120 --> 00:11:30,920 Speaker 1: doing these things, which is a weird way to word 208 00:11:31,000 --> 00:11:33,880 Speaker 1: something like that. At one point, near the end of 209 00:11:33,880 --> 00:11:37,040 Speaker 1: the district's existence, and officer of the Secretary of War's 210 00:11:37,040 --> 00:11:41,440 Speaker 1: Commission of Training Camp Activities called Storyville a Gibraltar of 211 00:11:41,480 --> 00:11:45,800 Speaker 1: commercialized vice, twenty four blocks given over to human degradation 212 00:11:46,000 --> 00:11:49,400 Speaker 1: and lust. But despite the focus on the CD or 213 00:11:49,520 --> 00:11:52,720 Speaker 1: lures of Storyville, it was actually alcohol sales that turned 214 00:11:52,760 --> 00:11:55,440 Speaker 1: over some of the highest profits in the district. We 215 00:11:55,480 --> 00:11:58,079 Speaker 1: actually have an episode in the archive about Storyville and 216 00:11:58,280 --> 00:12:00,719 Speaker 1: Buddy Bolden gets to mention in it, if folks want 217 00:12:00,760 --> 00:12:03,000 Speaker 1: to track that down in the archive. Bolden and his 218 00:12:03,080 --> 00:12:05,600 Speaker 1: band played all over New Orleans, just to be clear, 219 00:12:05,760 --> 00:12:08,880 Speaker 1: but his name was closely tied to Storyville and it 220 00:12:08,920 --> 00:12:11,679 Speaker 1: was a really rowdy area. There was a unique kind 221 00:12:11,720 --> 00:12:15,679 Speaker 1: of symbiosis between the red light district and the music scene. 222 00:12:15,840 --> 00:12:19,040 Speaker 1: The enticements of the neighborhood brought people in, and musicians 223 00:12:19,080 --> 00:12:21,360 Speaker 1: like Bolden playing in places like the Odd Fellows in 224 00:12:21,400 --> 00:12:24,320 Speaker 1: Masonic Hall gained a following and then drew more people 225 00:12:24,320 --> 00:12:26,959 Speaker 1: into the district. Yeah, kind of each of the various 226 00:12:26,960 --> 00:12:29,880 Speaker 1: industries going on there kept feeding the others. And one 227 00:12:29,880 --> 00:12:32,440 Speaker 1: of the most famous spots for Bolden to play was 228 00:12:32,480 --> 00:12:35,120 Speaker 1: the Union Sons Hall, which had been established in eighteen 229 00:12:35,240 --> 00:12:38,000 Speaker 1: sixty six by a group of free persons of color, 230 00:12:38,160 --> 00:12:40,319 Speaker 1: and it was part of Black Storyville since a lot 231 00:12:40,360 --> 00:12:43,720 Speaker 1: of the Vice district would not accept black patrons, and 232 00:12:43,760 --> 00:12:46,800 Speaker 1: the Union Sons Hall also went by other nicknames, including 233 00:12:46,880 --> 00:12:50,560 Speaker 1: Kenna's Hall, named I Believe for a musician that predated 234 00:12:50,559 --> 00:12:53,760 Speaker 1: Buddy Bolden, and Funky Butt Hall, which was tied very 235 00:12:53,760 --> 00:12:57,280 Speaker 1: closely to Bolden. He had a song with those words 236 00:12:57,280 --> 00:13:00,400 Speaker 1: and the lyrics or in the name, And sometimes the 237 00:13:00,400 --> 00:13:02,960 Speaker 1: Saturday night dances that were going on at Union Sun's 238 00:13:03,400 --> 00:13:06,200 Speaker 1: would drag into the morning hours, so much so that 239 00:13:06,240 --> 00:13:08,560 Speaker 1: they had to be cut off so that the hall 240 00:13:08,600 --> 00:13:12,800 Speaker 1: could be rearranged quickly and used for Sunday morning church services. 241 00:13:13,200 --> 00:13:16,080 Speaker 1: What's interesting is that even while Buddy was experimenting and 242 00:13:16,200 --> 00:13:19,600 Speaker 1: improvising new ways to play old standards, making the brass 243 00:13:19,600 --> 00:13:22,360 Speaker 1: more prominent and changing up the rhythms, there are also 244 00:13:22,480 --> 00:13:25,120 Speaker 1: accounts of his band playing places like the Blue Ribbon 245 00:13:25,160 --> 00:13:28,280 Speaker 1: Social Club, which was an organization for teenage girls, and 246 00:13:28,320 --> 00:13:32,320 Speaker 1: being perfect gentlemen, both in their personal behavior and in 247 00:13:32,360 --> 00:13:36,480 Speaker 1: the performances. They played appropriate dance music like waltzes and 248 00:13:36,559 --> 00:13:42,440 Speaker 1: quadrilles and nothing jazzy at all. Yeah, there's a cute 249 00:13:42,679 --> 00:13:46,560 Speaker 1: quote from somebody that I read where they're describing it. 250 00:13:46,800 --> 00:13:48,880 Speaker 1: I think they say none of that jazzy stuff, And 251 00:13:48,920 --> 00:13:52,480 Speaker 1: I don't know why that charmed me. In nineteen oh two, 252 00:13:52,559 --> 00:13:55,360 Speaker 1: Buddy started seeing a woman named Nora Bass, who he 253 00:13:55,400 --> 00:13:58,600 Speaker 1: took to church for dates initially, and the two moved 254 00:13:58,640 --> 00:14:01,920 Speaker 1: in together that same year at twenty seven nineteen Philip Street, 255 00:14:02,000 --> 00:14:04,160 Speaker 1: and they started living as a married couple, even though 256 00:14:04,160 --> 00:14:07,360 Speaker 1: they were not ever legally wed. This basically a common 257 00:14:07,400 --> 00:14:10,200 Speaker 1: law marriage established sort of a double life for Buddy. 258 00:14:10,920 --> 00:14:13,480 Speaker 1: Nora was not part of the music scene. She was 259 00:14:13,520 --> 00:14:17,040 Speaker 1: not particularly interested in the culture of Storyville. But even 260 00:14:17,080 --> 00:14:20,440 Speaker 1: away from the music scene, Buddy had this other duality 261 00:14:20,440 --> 00:14:23,080 Speaker 1: going on because he split his nights between his old 262 00:14:23,160 --> 00:14:26,040 Speaker 1: family homes, staying with his mother Alice, and then the 263 00:14:26,080 --> 00:14:29,400 Speaker 1: rest of the time staying with Nora. Buddy and Nora 264 00:14:29,520 --> 00:14:32,760 Speaker 1: had a daughter named Bernadine in nineteen oh three, but 265 00:14:33,040 --> 00:14:35,800 Speaker 1: Buddy's second effort at family life seems to have been 266 00:14:35,840 --> 00:14:38,760 Speaker 1: a struggle, just like it was before with Hattie. In 267 00:14:38,840 --> 00:14:41,120 Speaker 1: nineteen oh four, he was back to living with his 268 00:14:41,160 --> 00:14:43,880 Speaker 1: mother full time, at least according to a city directory, 269 00:14:44,400 --> 00:14:47,160 Speaker 1: although she had at that point moved across First Street 270 00:14:47,240 --> 00:14:50,640 Speaker 1: to another home, and Buddy's sister Cora, who had married 271 00:14:50,680 --> 00:14:53,120 Speaker 1: in nineteen oh two and that marriage did not work out, 272 00:14:53,560 --> 00:14:56,640 Speaker 1: was also living back with their mother, Alice. But just 273 00:14:56,760 --> 00:14:59,400 Speaker 1: as his work and his fame were reaching the highest 274 00:14:59,440 --> 00:15:02,360 Speaker 1: heights of the New Orleans seen, things really started to 275 00:15:02,360 --> 00:15:05,440 Speaker 1: crumble for him. In nineteen oh six, Buddy started to 276 00:15:05,480 --> 00:15:09,040 Speaker 1: exhibit signs of mental illness. At this point, people called 277 00:15:09,120 --> 00:15:12,560 Speaker 1: him King, and he keenly felt the pressure of being 278 00:15:12,640 --> 00:15:15,280 Speaker 1: called the King. He knew that he had to keep 279 00:15:15,320 --> 00:15:19,440 Speaker 1: coming up with new ideas to keep the audiences happy. Yeah, 280 00:15:19,480 --> 00:15:23,040 Speaker 1: there are stories of audiences just chanting King Bolden over 281 00:15:23,080 --> 00:15:25,520 Speaker 1: and over and over as they anticipated his arrival on 282 00:15:25,560 --> 00:15:27,880 Speaker 1: a stage, which is one of those things that sounds 283 00:15:27,920 --> 00:15:31,400 Speaker 1: like rockstar amazing, but it also made him feel really, 284 00:15:31,440 --> 00:15:35,960 Speaker 1: really stressed because he wanted to maintain that level. Buddy 285 00:15:36,040 --> 00:15:38,160 Speaker 1: had been a heavy drinker from a pretty young age, 286 00:15:38,480 --> 00:15:40,800 Speaker 1: but that got a lot worse as he grappled with 287 00:15:40,840 --> 00:15:43,600 Speaker 1: the pressures that he felt, and what had once seemed 288 00:15:43,880 --> 00:15:47,760 Speaker 1: like mere drunkenness started to really morph into more troubling behavior. 289 00:15:48,600 --> 00:15:52,440 Speaker 1: He complained of headaches. He became very paranoid. He was 290 00:15:52,480 --> 00:15:55,880 Speaker 1: often found just mumbling to himself, and the headaches got 291 00:15:55,920 --> 00:15:58,880 Speaker 1: bad enough that they impeded his playing. It said that 292 00:15:58,920 --> 00:16:01,360 Speaker 1: he would play the wrong note, and then that would 293 00:16:01,400 --> 00:16:04,560 Speaker 1: only make the situation worse because he would realize that 294 00:16:04,800 --> 00:16:07,400 Speaker 1: all of this pressure was stuff that he could not meet. 295 00:16:07,560 --> 00:16:10,280 Speaker 1: If this headache was causing his playing to suffer. Nora 296 00:16:10,520 --> 00:16:12,560 Speaker 1: was still in his life at this point, although they 297 00:16:12,640 --> 00:16:16,080 Speaker 1: weren't really maintaining a full time marriage, and she said 298 00:16:16,120 --> 00:16:18,400 Speaker 1: at times that he seemed to be afraid of his 299 00:16:18,560 --> 00:16:23,320 Speaker 1: own cornet. He had always kept it with him, and 300 00:16:23,640 --> 00:16:26,280 Speaker 1: he worried that his position as the music scenes most 301 00:16:26,320 --> 00:16:31,120 Speaker 1: prominent innovator would be overthrown by some other musician in 302 00:16:31,240 --> 00:16:34,440 Speaker 1: terms of his immediate livelihood. He started missing gigs and 303 00:16:34,440 --> 00:16:38,080 Speaker 1: fighting with his band members. Yeah, he had initially responded 304 00:16:38,120 --> 00:16:40,480 Speaker 1: to this pressure by just booking more and more gigs. 305 00:16:40,640 --> 00:16:43,880 Speaker 1: He was just going to saturate the market. And then, 306 00:16:44,000 --> 00:16:47,080 Speaker 1: of course that's impossible. When you are stressed, the worst 307 00:16:47,080 --> 00:16:49,640 Speaker 1: thing to do is make your schedule even more intense. 308 00:16:50,160 --> 00:16:53,320 Speaker 1: So it kind of kept folding in on itself, this problem, 309 00:16:53,840 --> 00:16:56,320 Speaker 1: and on Saturday, March twenty third of nineteen oh six, 310 00:16:56,480 --> 00:17:00,000 Speaker 1: the police were called to the Bolden home. Buddy had 311 00:17:00,040 --> 00:17:03,040 Speaker 1: become delusional. He was convinced that his mother, Alice, was 312 00:17:03,080 --> 00:17:05,880 Speaker 1: trying to poison him, and at the time, Nora's sister 313 00:17:05,960 --> 00:17:09,239 Speaker 1: Dora and her mother Ida were visiting the house and 314 00:17:09,320 --> 00:17:12,600 Speaker 1: Buddy hit Ida, we think we'll explain why there's all 315 00:17:12,680 --> 00:17:15,280 Speaker 1: we think there in just a moment with a water pitcher. 316 00:17:15,960 --> 00:17:18,880 Speaker 1: Because the women were afraid of more violent behavior, they 317 00:17:18,880 --> 00:17:21,320 Speaker 1: had called the police. Buddy was arrested and he was 318 00:17:21,359 --> 00:17:25,080 Speaker 1: booked at the twelfth Precinct station that night. His charge 319 00:17:25,119 --> 00:17:28,560 Speaker 1: is simply listed as insane. The newspaper has picked up 320 00:17:28,600 --> 00:17:31,639 Speaker 1: the story, and this is the only press coverage that 321 00:17:31,680 --> 00:17:34,399 Speaker 1: Buddy ever got in his lifetime. It ran as a 322 00:17:34,400 --> 00:17:37,639 Speaker 1: brief news blurb and the New Orleans Item and the 323 00:17:37,720 --> 00:17:42,600 Speaker 1: Daily Picune. The two newspapers differ on one key detail, 324 00:17:42,720 --> 00:17:46,199 Speaker 1: though one item says that Buddy struck his mother, the 325 00:17:46,359 --> 00:17:48,760 Speaker 1: Pickiune says that it was his mother in law. Both 326 00:17:48,800 --> 00:17:52,640 Speaker 1: agree that the wound was not serious. Though later that year, 327 00:17:53,000 --> 00:17:56,320 Speaker 1: most of Bolden's bandmates were no longer playing with him. 328 00:17:56,800 --> 00:17:59,200 Speaker 1: It is unclear if they got frustrated with his behavior 329 00:17:59,240 --> 00:18:02,320 Speaker 1: and walked out or if he just got super angry 330 00:18:02,359 --> 00:18:07,080 Speaker 1: and fired them, but those relationships were severed. A series 331 00:18:07,119 --> 00:18:09,719 Speaker 1: of musicians cycled through his group on his gigs from 332 00:18:09,760 --> 00:18:13,040 Speaker 1: that point on, including several that really had poor reputations 333 00:18:13,040 --> 00:18:16,040 Speaker 1: on the music scene and were likely just taking advantage 334 00:18:16,040 --> 00:18:20,040 Speaker 1: of this unstable situation for their own benefit. Stories from 335 00:18:20,040 --> 00:18:22,280 Speaker 1: this time in Buddy's life all paint a picture of 336 00:18:22,320 --> 00:18:26,320 Speaker 1: a man who was at times disoriented, referring in conversations 337 00:18:26,359 --> 00:18:30,040 Speaker 1: to people no one seemed to know, shortchanging bandmates on 338 00:18:30,040 --> 00:18:34,280 Speaker 1: their payouts, and clearly losing touch with reality. On September third, 339 00:18:34,359 --> 00:18:37,760 Speaker 1: nineteen oh six, Buddy, like every other musician in New Orleans, 340 00:18:37,920 --> 00:18:40,280 Speaker 1: was booked to march in the Labor Day Parade, but 341 00:18:40,359 --> 00:18:44,400 Speaker 1: he walked off the parade route. There's been several different 342 00:18:44,520 --> 00:18:46,800 Speaker 1: stories as to whether he was part of some kind 343 00:18:46,800 --> 00:18:50,840 Speaker 1: of altercation or whether he just left and was felt 344 00:18:50,880 --> 00:18:52,879 Speaker 1: like he was unable to complete the route in the 345 00:18:53,040 --> 00:18:56,560 Speaker 1: very hot and humid weather. But after that day, his 346 00:18:56,680 --> 00:19:00,159 Speaker 1: mental state started declining really quickly. On Saturday night night 347 00:19:00,240 --> 00:19:02,760 Speaker 1: September eighth, so just a few days later, his mother 348 00:19:02,840 --> 00:19:06,119 Speaker 1: called the police again. His booking record at four am 349 00:19:06,200 --> 00:19:09,479 Speaker 1: Sunday morning once again lists insanity as the reason he 350 00:19:09,520 --> 00:19:13,840 Speaker 1: was arrested, and then for reasons unknown, his given address, 351 00:19:13,880 --> 00:19:16,359 Speaker 1: which his mother gave the police, was not his home, 352 00:19:16,840 --> 00:19:19,560 Speaker 1: but a nearby vacant lot that was situated across the 353 00:19:19,600 --> 00:19:22,040 Speaker 1: street from the home of his close friend Lewis Jones. 354 00:19:22,440 --> 00:19:25,400 Speaker 1: There's been speculation that she and his friend Lewis both 355 00:19:25,400 --> 00:19:27,240 Speaker 1: felt like they didn't know what to do with him, 356 00:19:27,320 --> 00:19:30,280 Speaker 1: and they were trying to maybe just get him out 357 00:19:30,320 --> 00:19:32,119 Speaker 1: of their lives in sort of a passive way, but 358 00:19:32,200 --> 00:19:35,720 Speaker 1: we don't know. Buddy was released after this arrest, but 359 00:19:35,840 --> 00:19:40,160 Speaker 1: he never played his cornet again. The next several months 360 00:19:40,160 --> 00:19:43,639 Speaker 1: were spent drinking and hanging around his mother's house, occasionally 361 00:19:43,680 --> 00:19:47,239 Speaker 1: lapsing into angry and violent behavior. He was arrested for 362 00:19:47,280 --> 00:19:51,040 Speaker 1: insanity again on March thirteenth, nineteen oh seven. His mother, 363 00:19:51,119 --> 00:19:54,600 Speaker 1: Alice and sister Cora couldn't manage him anymore, and on 364 00:19:54,680 --> 00:19:57,720 Speaker 1: April fourth, after almost a month in jail, he was 365 00:19:57,760 --> 00:20:01,400 Speaker 1: examined by a doctor and committed to the Jackson Insane Asylum. 366 00:20:01,960 --> 00:20:05,880 Speaker 1: His declaration of insanity review and paperwork to list him 367 00:20:05,920 --> 00:20:10,280 Speaker 1: as judicially committed, though weren't completed for another month. The 368 00:20:10,359 --> 00:20:13,760 Speaker 1: cause of insanity was listed simply as alcohol, and he 369 00:20:13,840 --> 00:20:16,800 Speaker 1: made the trip to Jackson on June fifth. His years 370 00:20:16,800 --> 00:20:20,520 Speaker 1: in treatment are not entirely well documented. Some of those 371 00:20:20,520 --> 00:20:24,159 Speaker 1: documents probably existed and have gone missing, but he was 372 00:20:24,200 --> 00:20:27,239 Speaker 1: sort of treated in this weird catch all category that 373 00:20:27,280 --> 00:20:31,040 Speaker 1: black men were frequently lumped into. The treatment was kind 374 00:20:31,040 --> 00:20:32,960 Speaker 1: of along the lines of how they would treat manic 375 00:20:33,000 --> 00:20:35,960 Speaker 1: depressives at the time, that is no longer a term 376 00:20:36,000 --> 00:20:38,199 Speaker 1: that would be used, but it was basically like, we 377 00:20:38,280 --> 00:20:41,480 Speaker 1: don't know, they seemed violent, We're going to kind of 378 00:20:41,480 --> 00:20:45,640 Speaker 1: give them this non individualized and kind of unspecific course 379 00:20:45,680 --> 00:20:49,320 Speaker 1: of treatment. It's actually not until a nineteen twenty five 380 00:20:49,400 --> 00:20:52,440 Speaker 1: examination records, so again that is almost twenty years after 381 00:20:52,480 --> 00:20:56,439 Speaker 1: he was committed to the asylum that the diagnosis of 382 00:20:56,640 --> 00:21:02,080 Speaker 1: dementia praecox paranoid type appears. That terminology is outdated now. 383 00:21:02,119 --> 00:21:05,200 Speaker 1: It was used for a while interchangeably with the term schizophrenia, 384 00:21:05,280 --> 00:21:06,960 Speaker 1: and then it was supplanted by the use of the 385 00:21:06,960 --> 00:21:11,480 Speaker 1: word schizophrenia completely at one point. Initially, Alice and Cora 386 00:21:11,560 --> 00:21:15,199 Speaker 1: Bolden visited Buddy in the asylum at fairly regular intervals, 387 00:21:15,600 --> 00:21:17,360 Speaker 1: and at one point they even thought that he might 388 00:21:17,400 --> 00:21:20,680 Speaker 1: be well enough to return home, although his doctors cautioned 389 00:21:20,720 --> 00:21:24,920 Speaker 1: against it. But over time Buddy became less and less responsive, 390 00:21:25,200 --> 00:21:28,119 Speaker 1: and eventually he didn't recognize his mother or sister, and 391 00:21:28,160 --> 00:21:32,359 Speaker 1: the Boldens eventually stopped visiting. They would instead write letters 392 00:21:32,400 --> 00:21:35,760 Speaker 1: to the hospital staff asking after Buddy's wellness, and they 393 00:21:35,760 --> 00:21:41,160 Speaker 1: would receive reassuring although not two reassuring replies. These missives 394 00:21:41,160 --> 00:21:43,760 Speaker 1: generally stated that Buddy was in good health, but that 395 00:21:43,840 --> 00:21:47,040 Speaker 1: he showed no improvement in regards to his mental state. 396 00:21:47,760 --> 00:21:51,240 Speaker 1: In nineteen twenty seven, Buddy's daughter Bernadine, who was twenty 397 00:21:51,280 --> 00:21:53,760 Speaker 1: four at the time and hadn't had contact with him 398 00:21:53,800 --> 00:21:57,600 Speaker 1: since she was four, wrote to the hospital from Evanston, Illinois, 399 00:21:57,760 --> 00:22:01,680 Speaker 1: and she asked about her father's condition. Bernadine's mother, Nora, 400 00:22:01,880 --> 00:22:05,000 Speaker 1: hadn't maintained a relationship with the Boldens, so she didn't 401 00:22:05,040 --> 00:22:09,120 Speaker 1: really know what her father's status was until the hospital 402 00:22:09,119 --> 00:22:11,280 Speaker 1: wrote her back and said that he was not improving. 403 00:22:11,720 --> 00:22:13,800 Speaker 1: I feel like that's a whole story. I would be 404 00:22:13,960 --> 00:22:15,919 Speaker 1: very interested to hear, like at what point did she 405 00:22:16,000 --> 00:22:18,600 Speaker 1: decide she wanted to reach out and like how did 406 00:22:18,600 --> 00:22:20,760 Speaker 1: she end up in Illinois? And we don't really have 407 00:22:20,840 --> 00:22:24,640 Speaker 1: those pieces of the puzzle. There is one really bittersweet 408 00:22:24,680 --> 00:22:27,920 Speaker 1: aspect of Bolden's time in the asylum. So in the 409 00:22:28,000 --> 00:22:30,919 Speaker 1: nineteen twenties, a music therapy program was started there by 410 00:22:30,960 --> 00:22:33,880 Speaker 1: a doctor E. M. Richards, who was himself a musician, 411 00:22:34,560 --> 00:22:36,760 Speaker 1: and there was a jazz band that formed with some 412 00:22:36,800 --> 00:22:39,160 Speaker 1: of the black patients. Although Buddy was not one of them, 413 00:22:39,240 --> 00:22:42,919 Speaker 1: but on occasion, according to staff accounts, Buddy would just 414 00:22:42,960 --> 00:22:46,280 Speaker 1: walk up to the bandstand and grab a trumpet or cornett, 415 00:22:46,440 --> 00:22:49,439 Speaker 1: depending on what was there, and play, but almost no 416 00:22:49,480 --> 00:22:52,119 Speaker 1: one realized that they were in the presence of a 417 00:22:52,160 --> 00:22:57,199 Speaker 1: former bandstand. King. Buddy's mother, Alice Bolden, died on August eleventh, 418 00:22:57,280 --> 00:23:00,800 Speaker 1: nineteen thirty one, and when Cora wrote their usual letter 419 00:23:00,840 --> 00:23:03,919 Speaker 1: to the asylum asking after her brother, she included this 420 00:23:04,080 --> 00:23:07,280 Speaker 1: news and the letter the hospital just responded to let 421 00:23:07,320 --> 00:23:10,320 Speaker 1: her knew that her brother was having heart trouble. Buddy 422 00:23:10,359 --> 00:23:14,240 Speaker 1: died on November fourth, nineteen thirty one, in Parker General Hospital, 423 00:23:14,280 --> 00:23:17,080 Speaker 1: which is part of the same property as the asylum. 424 00:23:17,560 --> 00:23:21,520 Speaker 1: His cause of death was cerebral arterial sclerosis. No death 425 00:23:21,560 --> 00:23:24,040 Speaker 1: notice ran in the paper, and the city that had 426 00:23:24,080 --> 00:23:27,080 Speaker 1: celebrated him as King Bolden at one time had no 427 00:23:27,200 --> 00:23:30,639 Speaker 1: idea that he had died. Today, we don't know where 428 00:23:30,680 --> 00:23:33,760 Speaker 1: Buddy Bolden is buried exactly. He was buried in Holt 429 00:23:33,800 --> 00:23:37,760 Speaker 1: Cemetery and a pauper's grave on city owned land. His sister, 430 00:23:37,880 --> 00:23:40,720 Speaker 1: Cora had been either unable or unwilling to pay the 431 00:23:40,760 --> 00:23:43,760 Speaker 1: burial fee of five dollars. She also wasn't able to 432 00:23:43,800 --> 00:23:46,160 Speaker 1: keep up with the payments that were needed for maintenance 433 00:23:46,160 --> 00:23:48,600 Speaker 1: of the grave site, so after two years, his body 434 00:23:48,680 --> 00:23:51,640 Speaker 1: was exhumed and reburied at a greater depth to make 435 00:23:51,720 --> 00:23:54,720 Speaker 1: room for a fresh grave on top of his. Yeah, 436 00:23:54,760 --> 00:23:58,160 Speaker 1: that cemetery has since become very overgrown. There's a general 437 00:23:58,200 --> 00:24:00,520 Speaker 1: sense of it's kind of somewhere right around this area, 438 00:24:00,560 --> 00:24:03,679 Speaker 1: but we really don't know, and there are likely several 439 00:24:03,720 --> 00:24:06,199 Speaker 1: more burials on top of it in addition to that 440 00:24:06,240 --> 00:24:09,520 Speaker 1: one that happened a couple years later. Buddy's brief but 441 00:24:09,600 --> 00:24:12,680 Speaker 1: intense time as a New Orleans musical celebrity is much 442 00:24:12,720 --> 00:24:16,040 Speaker 1: discussed by historians as the point where Dixie Land Jazz 443 00:24:16,160 --> 00:24:19,320 Speaker 1: was born. But this discussion also gets a little bit 444 00:24:19,320 --> 00:24:23,520 Speaker 1: tricky because we have no recordings of him playing. We 445 00:24:23,640 --> 00:24:27,359 Speaker 1: don't know exactly what he sounded like, and so everything 446 00:24:27,480 --> 00:24:30,720 Speaker 1: is an interpretation of descriptions that other people have given, 447 00:24:30,800 --> 00:24:34,679 Speaker 1: and sometimes those accounts contradict one another because they're subjective. 448 00:24:35,480 --> 00:24:37,639 Speaker 1: One thing that I noticed that was interesting reading some 449 00:24:37,720 --> 00:24:39,800 Speaker 1: of those is like some people would be like, he 450 00:24:39,920 --> 00:24:42,159 Speaker 1: had amazing tone, and other people would be like, he 451 00:24:42,200 --> 00:24:44,600 Speaker 1: didn't have tone, but he had really good rhythm and like, 452 00:24:44,800 --> 00:24:48,359 Speaker 1: there were just these literally completely contradicting accounts of what 453 00:24:48,440 --> 00:24:51,920 Speaker 1: he sounded like. There has been speculation that Bolden and 454 00:24:51,960 --> 00:24:55,200 Speaker 1: an early incarnation of his band made a cylinder recording 455 00:24:55,680 --> 00:24:58,320 Speaker 1: sometime before eighteen ninety eight, but if they did this, 456 00:24:58,480 --> 00:25:02,680 Speaker 1: that recording has been lost and it has eluded historian searches, 457 00:25:02,760 --> 00:25:05,560 Speaker 1: of which there have been many. Because of the mythical 458 00:25:05,680 --> 00:25:08,520 Speaker 1: nature of Buddy's work and the lack of documentation of it, 459 00:25:08,560 --> 00:25:12,760 Speaker 1: there are ongoing disagreements about what did and didn't originate 460 00:25:12,800 --> 00:25:15,800 Speaker 1: with him. If you've ever watched the Ken Burns Jazz 461 00:25:15,840 --> 00:25:20,040 Speaker 1: documentary series, when Marsalis attributes what's called a big four beat, 462 00:25:20,160 --> 00:25:22,920 Speaker 1: which is a syncopated pattern that accents the second fourth 463 00:25:22,920 --> 00:25:26,280 Speaker 1: beat of a march to Bolden, but that beat might 464 00:25:26,560 --> 00:25:30,000 Speaker 1: have started any number of places, including after Buddy was 465 00:25:30,080 --> 00:25:34,520 Speaker 1: no longer playing regularly, and it's unlikely a definitive origin 466 00:25:34,560 --> 00:25:37,800 Speaker 1: point that anybody will ever be able to conclusively prove. Yeah, 467 00:25:37,840 --> 00:25:44,360 Speaker 1: if you wanna, you know, read some online arguments, go 468 00:25:44,520 --> 00:25:47,440 Speaker 1: and just search around the internet for like that footage 469 00:25:47,440 --> 00:25:50,240 Speaker 1: and watch all of the comments be about that's not true. 470 00:25:50,240 --> 00:25:53,320 Speaker 1: What Marsalis doesn't know, what he's talking about. It's pretty interesting, 471 00:25:54,160 --> 00:25:57,960 Speaker 1: but basically, really again, it's that thing where he's mythological 472 00:25:57,960 --> 00:26:00,160 Speaker 1: in nature at this point, and you could say any 473 00:26:00,280 --> 00:26:03,199 Speaker 1: things were things that he invanted and we don't know, 474 00:26:03,880 --> 00:26:07,200 Speaker 1: but there's also every possibility that he did do that. 475 00:26:07,600 --> 00:26:10,520 Speaker 1: And even though Buddy hadn't started learning Cornett until he 476 00:26:10,600 --> 00:26:12,919 Speaker 1: was a teen, as we mentioned, which was late for 477 00:26:12,960 --> 00:26:15,080 Speaker 1: a kid in New Orleans at the time, he had 478 00:26:15,119 --> 00:26:17,440 Speaker 1: an incredible ear and he could pick up a song 479 00:26:17,560 --> 00:26:19,440 Speaker 1: just by hearing it and then kind of playing around 480 00:26:19,480 --> 00:26:21,200 Speaker 1: with it on his cornette briefly to make sure he 481 00:26:21,240 --> 00:26:23,920 Speaker 1: had it worked out. Whether he was able to read 482 00:26:24,040 --> 00:26:27,359 Speaker 1: music is another hotly debated point, but he was a 483 00:26:27,359 --> 00:26:31,119 Speaker 1: skilled improviser. Sometimes he would maybe forget a segment of 484 00:26:31,119 --> 00:26:32,879 Speaker 1: a song while playing and he could just fake his 485 00:26:32,920 --> 00:26:35,000 Speaker 1: way through it, or he would just fake his way 486 00:26:35,040 --> 00:26:37,199 Speaker 1: through songs that he maybe just didn't really know all 487 00:26:37,200 --> 00:26:39,880 Speaker 1: that well. To begin with that main biographer who's written 488 00:26:39,920 --> 00:26:43,360 Speaker 1: about Bolden that I mentioned earlier, Donald M. Marquee Warrnton 489 00:26:43,400 --> 00:26:46,199 Speaker 1: his book, that this skill, when people talk about it, 490 00:26:46,200 --> 00:26:49,840 Speaker 1: should not be equated with the improvisational jazz of today. 491 00:26:50,359 --> 00:26:52,560 Speaker 1: It was more of a way of an embellishing and 492 00:26:52,640 --> 00:26:54,960 Speaker 1: known melody and setting it to a different beat to 493 00:26:55,000 --> 00:26:58,960 Speaker 1: create something new. He also wasn't just playing his own thing. 494 00:26:59,200 --> 00:27:02,480 Speaker 1: He was playing all kinds of music almost anywhere he 495 00:27:02,520 --> 00:27:06,199 Speaker 1: could to establish himself as a musician. Hot music, the 496 00:27:06,200 --> 00:27:09,960 Speaker 1: place where Balden was really innovating, combined the brass band 497 00:27:10,040 --> 00:27:13,919 Speaker 1: marches that were common in New Orleans with blues and ragtime, 498 00:27:14,280 --> 00:27:17,800 Speaker 1: and this is where dixieland jazz begins. But it's important 499 00:27:17,800 --> 00:27:20,600 Speaker 1: to contextualize it as happening in the same dance halls 500 00:27:20,640 --> 00:27:24,160 Speaker 1: where waltzes and quadrilles were also being played, and by 501 00:27:24,280 --> 00:27:27,760 Speaker 1: musicians who could cover all of that territory. Yeah, sometimes 502 00:27:27,760 --> 00:27:30,359 Speaker 1: I think if you read sort of a glossy blurb 503 00:27:30,480 --> 00:27:33,399 Speaker 1: version of it, it sounds like he's only this rebel 504 00:27:33,440 --> 00:27:36,600 Speaker 1: that's outplaying his own versions of things. And really he 505 00:27:36,720 --> 00:27:38,960 Speaker 1: was accomplished at covering all of the bases that he 506 00:27:39,040 --> 00:27:42,560 Speaker 1: might be required to. After Bolden's death, the ideas that 507 00:27:42,600 --> 00:27:46,000 Speaker 1: he pioneered, both in the sounds, songs and arrangements, as 508 00:27:46,000 --> 00:27:48,639 Speaker 1: well as the style of bands, continued to evolve in 509 00:27:48,680 --> 00:27:52,800 Speaker 1: Louisiana and beyond. String bands and orchestras started to give 510 00:27:52,840 --> 00:27:55,440 Speaker 1: way to smaller jazz ensembles like the ones that Buddy 511 00:27:55,480 --> 00:27:59,000 Speaker 1: had put together, and New Orleans quickly established itself as 512 00:27:59,040 --> 00:28:01,840 Speaker 1: the birthplace of Yixilian jazz, as well as a place 513 00:28:01,840 --> 00:28:05,160 Speaker 1: where the music form evolved and took other shapes. Buddy's 514 00:28:05,320 --> 00:28:07,360 Speaker 1: life has been featured in a lot of works over 515 00:28:07,400 --> 00:28:11,359 Speaker 1: the years. The novel Coming Through Slaughter, published in nineteen 516 00:28:11,400 --> 00:28:15,719 Speaker 1: seventy six by Michael Mdacci, features a fictionalized version of 517 00:28:15,720 --> 00:28:20,200 Speaker 1: Bolden's life. A biopic called Bolden with an exclamation Point 518 00:28:20,280 --> 00:28:23,160 Speaker 1: was filmed in twenty fifteen and is still listed us 519 00:28:23,240 --> 00:28:27,000 Speaker 1: in post production on IMDb. There have also been theatrical 520 00:28:27,000 --> 00:28:29,680 Speaker 1: productions where he's featured as a character and he makes 521 00:28:29,760 --> 00:28:33,600 Speaker 1: cameos and a number of pieces of fiction. On September sixth, 522 00:28:33,680 --> 00:28:35,960 Speaker 1: nineteen ninety six, which would have been Buddies one hundred 523 00:28:35,960 --> 00:28:39,800 Speaker 1: and nineteenth birthday, he finally got a New Orleans jazz funeral, 524 00:28:39,880 --> 00:28:42,920 Speaker 1: and that was attended by his granddaughter and great granddaughter. 525 00:28:43,520 --> 00:28:46,000 Speaker 1: Six years later, the City Council of New Orleans named 526 00:28:46,000 --> 00:28:50,480 Speaker 1: a block of Tulou Street Buddy Bolden Place. Oh all right, 527 00:28:50,600 --> 00:28:52,320 Speaker 1: this is one of those things where I think about 528 00:28:52,360 --> 00:28:55,600 Speaker 1: We've talked about it on the show before how our 529 00:28:55,680 --> 00:28:59,280 Speaker 1: knowledge of mental health treatment and diagnosis has evolved a 530 00:28:59,320 --> 00:29:00,960 Speaker 1: great deal, but it's it's one of those places where 531 00:29:01,000 --> 00:29:05,880 Speaker 1: I personally feel slightly cheated, similar to how we talked 532 00:29:05,920 --> 00:29:08,520 Speaker 1: in our Dwight Fry episode about how if he had 533 00:29:08,520 --> 00:29:11,000 Speaker 1: only sought medical treatment, he could have had potentially a 534 00:29:11,080 --> 00:29:14,160 Speaker 1: much longer acting career and given us heaven only knows 535 00:29:14,160 --> 00:29:18,120 Speaker 1: what kind of amazing performances. Similarly, but he was only 536 00:29:18,160 --> 00:29:20,320 Speaker 1: thirty when he was sent to the asylum. Like, think 537 00:29:20,360 --> 00:29:22,479 Speaker 1: of the music he could have played had he actually 538 00:29:22,480 --> 00:29:27,560 Speaker 1: gotten reasonable treatment for his mental illness and maybe taken 539 00:29:27,840 --> 00:29:31,680 Speaker 1: better care of his body along the way. So I'll 540 00:29:31,720 --> 00:29:34,560 Speaker 1: just feel selfish in wanting to travel back in time 541 00:29:34,600 --> 00:29:42,960 Speaker 1: and fix those problems. Thanks so much for joining us 542 00:29:43,000 --> 00:29:46,080 Speaker 1: on this Saturday. Since this episode is out of the archive, 543 00:29:46,120 --> 00:29:48,360 Speaker 1: if you heard an email address or a Facebook RL 544 00:29:48,480 --> 00:29:50,760 Speaker 1: or something similar over the course of the show that 545 00:29:51,040 --> 00:29:55,000 Speaker 1: could be obsolete now. 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