All About Jazz is celebrating Buddy Bolden's birthday today!
Cornetist Buddy Bolden is one of the premier legendary figures of jazz. Credited as the founder of “jass," later to be called jazz, he was the first player to pursue an improvisational style. Much is unknown about Bolden's life, however, and it has been difficult for jazz historians to separate myth from reality, and the legend continues to grow.
Charles Joseph Bolden was born in New Orleans to Westmore Bolden and Alice Harrison on September 6, 1877. In December of 1883, Bolden's father died and his mother began working to support the family. At the age of ten, Bolden, along with his mother... Read more.
