Buddy Bolden

Buddy Bolden died on 4 November 1931, 25 years after he was admitted permanently into the State Asylum. The reason for his death was intense depression, withdrawal and acute schizophrenia.

He was buried at the ‘Holt cemetery’, which was known to be a pauper’s graveyard situated in New Orleans. His grave bore no epitaph of his contribution to the world of music and hence his grave remains unknown.

In his fond memory decades after his death, a memorial was erected at the Holt cemetery in 1998.

Charles Joseph “Buddy” Bolden was born to African-American parents Westmore Bolden and Alice Harrison on 6 September 1877 in New Orleans.

His family comprised his parents and sister, Cara. They were a small happy family until misfortune struck them when his father died in 1883; Buddy was only six years old at that time.

Shouldering the responsibility of her children,Alice began working. In order to provide her children the best, she moved with them to ‘385 First Street’.

Anecdotes of Bolden’s life suggest that he attended the ‘Fisk School for Boys’ recognised for its strict regulations and brilliant adroitness for music.

It is probably at school that his love and passion for music developed. He also attended the Sunday services at ‘St.John’sBaptist Church’ and listened to its soulful choir that reaffirmed his zest for music.

Music bands had become very popular during Buddy Bolden’s time; however he didn’t know much about forming his own band, so he began his career playing the cornet in ‘Papa Jack Laines’ band.

He played for the band for a couple of years before the mid-1890s when he formed his own band which played instruments of cornet, guitar, bass, clarinets, trombone and drums.

In order to build his own band he learnt from other popular bands how to mix instruments in order to liven up the performances. When he learned just how to go about organising his band, he named it the ‘Buddy Bolden Band’.

His band played at the disreputable red-light area of Storyville. But it wasn’t an impediment to his success; his band soon became the talk of the town.

From 1900 to 1906, hewas met with humongous success; he topped all charts in New Orleans and was crowned the ‘King of Cornet’. He was such a passionate musician that his cornet could be heard from miles away.

Unfortunately his success rushed to his head. He was often seen surrounded by women and drowned himself in alcohol.

Unable to keep up with producing unconventional and fresh music owing to his unhealthy addictions, he was met with heavy competition from other upcoming bands.

His popularity began to decline and in 1906 he went into depression and immersed himself in alcohol further.

His final public performance was with the ‘Eagle Band’ at the New Orleans ‘Labour Day Parade’. At the parade instead of striving to hold onto his crumbling image he ended it for life.

An incident at the parade changed his life forever. During the parade he began slurring abuses at the women surrounding him, and then he fell unconscious on the ground, with froth oozing from his mouth.