Bolden

I knew nothing about Buddy Bolden before seeing this film and after seeing it I know even less. This film is put together like a two hour trailer, the scenes jump around in time and never seem to build to a satisfying emotional conclusion. There are individual shots that promise something interesting, but never seem to finish. Even the jazz numbers which are well arranged by Wynton Marsalis, do not get to finish. And most music varies in fidelity and we move thru time and space.

The period details are perfect as is the music, sounding like it's played on period instruments. The performances are believable especially Gary Carr as Buddy Bolden who presents a broad range of emotions. He can be exhibiting a youthful energy exploring the nascent possibilities of jazz, or suffering trough rough parts of his life. The most familiar face in the cast is Ian McShane, but his charter is presented in such a choppy way, I have no idea who his character was or how he figured in Bolden's life.

I saw this at a special screening with the writer director Dan Pritzker in attendance, and he acknowledged that no recording of Bolden exists and so little is known about Bolden that he has no idea if he invented jazz or not, he just thought it was a good tag line.

Many reviewers must have missed the part of Ken Burns Jazz that centers on most of the roots of the truly American form of music from the last century? Buddy Bolden was the style influencer for Louis "Pops" Armstrong, who grew up in an adopted setting in New Orleans. Armstrong often heard Buddy Bolden playing on river boats from the river banks into the wee hours of the morning. His adoptive parents recognized the value of music and instrument training early on. When they took Armstrong to select an instrument to learn, they hinted around about a woodwind or string instrument, but Armstrong was already hooked on the Coronet from listening to Bolden and others in the City.

What may be very distracting to some of the viewers is the fact that Bolden was a schizophrenic with hallucinations and deep depression, For this, he was eventually institutionalized. The story is managed as Bolden sees it, eventually from his cell at the asylum that he was interned into. This is not any harder than following about any Quentin Tarantino movie or others which find a way of describing current and past sections of time into 90 or so minutes of film.

This film has the burden of also showing how even the most talented people of color were often taken advantage of by crooked, managers, record companies, theatre owners and other grifters and swindlers in the entertainment industry of the time. I believe they do an exceptional job of placing Bolden within the reach of several unsavory characters beset on separating him from his music and talent in order to pad their own pockets.

Wynton Marsalis wrote and orchestrated the music for this film and likely is the only living human being capable of doing so with the true essence of the time, characters and musical theme of the times. From "Jazz", by Burns et.al., Marsalis explains the voices of the New Orleans sound and the POP of the Bolden style that he was ultimately famous for both as unique and as a major influence to Armstrong, one of Marsalis's iconic performance player. In "Jazz", Marsalis narrative and emotion in discussing these two, Bolden and Armstrong, reveals his feelings for them and their places as Jazz icons of the first degree.

If only they had a scene with Sidney Bechet (1897-1959), the New Orleans sax player that would have been about Bolden's age. Mr. Bechet was a brawler. If he didn't get paid right for a gig, he would take his fee out in damages upon the locale he was playing in. He was also a victim of unscrupulous dealings with the white ownership structure in New Orleans. Early in life, he left the US for Europe where he and many other Jazz musicians of the time went to play to full houses of appreciative, jazz starved fans. Remember, those fans did not yet have records. Live performances were the rage of the time.

I want to start by stating that the music by Wynton Marsalis is really well researched and played. The costumes were also very well crafted, and true to the period. The acting was suitable, even though the actors said next to nothing.

In one of the opening scenes, the audience sees Buddy get thrown out of a hot air balloon, and parachute to the ground while playing his cornet to a cheering audience. I thought, wow this is going to be a creative and fun take on his life. Yeah, I was wrong. That was the best thing in the whole movie.

As far as the story, it goes in a couple of different directions. Time jumps around from Buddy's life as a child, as a budding talent, and his final years in a turn of the century institution. The story is shown in Buddy Bolden's disordered flashbacks of his life.

Buddy Bolden's character is an enigma, and the supporting characters are underdeveloped. It's like shaking your keys at a baby to keep them from crying. The writer was hoping the audience is so distracted by all the nudity and violence, they won't care that there isn't a story

There were lots of interesting settings, but nothing happens. Any detail about Bolden's relationships with his many partners are just lust filled scenes of lust. I thought for a second that this thing should be on skin-a-max, probably will be.

The movie was a long time in the making, a total of eleven years. Multiple reshoots, and at one point got an entirely new cast.

All and all, they spent a lot of money on a dud.

I really wanted to like this film. Buddy Bolden is largely unknown, but his legacy is immense. I love Jazz and love New Orleans and have visited many times- the combination of Jazz, New Orleans and the story of Buddy Bolden had the potential to make a great film, sadly this was not the case. The facts of Bolden's life are sparse, so there was a lot of room to tell a story. Racism was touched on, but should have been explored more fully. What you get is an impression and very little story telling. The story seems to be told in the first 20-30 minutes of the film, and then just repeated to the end. I was expecting more of the music, given Wynton Marsalis's involvement, but was again disappointed. There was very little of New Orleans itself in the film- again a missed opportunity. Overall, extremely disappointing.

Taken from the perspective of Bolden's asylum residency and the reflections of his life, success, frustration and failure, I found the movie at times restless, but overall very interesting. The period sets, costuming, and social tension make the movie work, as the shards of his life and his ambition dovetail into his ultimate failure and loss. In reality, little is known of his music or the facts of his life, but his influence was profound and shaped jazz (jass) music. To do Bolden justice I would be happy to see a proper documentary, but if this movie keeps his accomplishments in our culture's mind then it was a good endeavor. Now go read his Wikipedia page, and listen to some early King Oliver or Louis Armstrong records!