Buddy Bolden

Charles "Buddy" Bolden (September 6, 1877 - November 4, 1930) was a trumpeter and the first New Orleans jazz musician ever to come to prominence.

Music

Many early jazz musicians credited Bolden and the members of his band with being the originators of what came to be known as "jazz" (though the term was not yet in common musical use until during the era of Bolden's prominence). Bolden is credited with creating a looser, more improvised version of ragtime and adding blues to it; Bolden's band was said to be the first to have brass instruments play the blues. He also was said to have taken ideas from gospel music heard in Uptown African American Baptist churches.

Related Topics:
Ragtime - Blues - Gospel music - African American - Baptist

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Some of the songs first associated with his band, such as "Careless Love" and "My Bucket's Got a Hole in It" are still standards. Funk and rap foreshadowing can still be heard coming from one of Bolden's theme songs, known later on as "Buddy Bolden's Blues" (in Bolden's day it was called "Funky Butt"):

Related Topics:
Funk - Rap

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:I thought I heard Buddy Bolden say,

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:Funky-butt, funky-butt, take it away.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~