Demo · Buddy Bolden

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Buddy Bolden

Buddy Bolden

The myth. The spark. The sound that became jazz.

Cornetist / Bandleader

New Orleans, USA

Book the bandHear the records

The Story

Charles Joseph "Buddy" Bolden (1877-1931) is often credited as the first great voice of jazz: a cornetist whose sound helped turn ragtime, blues and brass-band traditions into something unmistakably new.

No confirmed recordings of Bolden survive. What remains is a story carried in New Orleans memory: a bandleader with a huge tone, a fierce rhythmic feel, and a gift for improvisation that made crowds move. Musicians spoke of his horn as a beacon, a call that travelled through warm night air and pulled people toward the dance halls.

Bolden's era was the city's crucible: parades and picnics, saloons and social clubs, hymn cadences and street beats, all colliding into a new language.

This is a demo site, a tribute built to show what a musician's page on TJP can hold. Its records and dates are the demo's own.

Records

Live Dates

  1. Second Line Sunday

    ThursdayLouis Armstrong Park, New Orleans

    Tickets

  2. Dance at Union Sons Hall

    ThursdayUnion Sons Hall, New Orleans

  3. Lincoln Park picnic

    MondayLincoln Park, New Orleans

    Tickets

  4. Storyville listening night

    SundayNew Orleans Jazz Museum

On Film

What They Said

Buddy Bolden was the most powerful trumpet player I've ever heard or ever was known.
Jelly Roll MortonMister Jelly Roll, Alan Lomax, 1950
Bolden caused whole stampedes with that horn. People would leave their homes and follow the sound.
As told in many jazz historiesNew Orleans oral history
On a clear night, you could hear his cornet from across the river.
Often repeated in jazz writingNew Orleans legend

Bookings

Booking

Dances, parades and picnics. We answer every message within two days.