LSU Press Blog

Buddy Bolden Movies in the Works

"No one is really sure what [New Orleans's] first "cornet king," Charles (Buddy) Bolden, sounded like 100 years ago, much less what made him tick," writes MICHAEL CIEPLY recently in the New York Times.

For years the legend of Buddy Bolden was overshadowed by myths about his music, his reckless lifestyle, and his mental instability. In In Search of Buddy Bolden: First Man of Jazz, author Donald M. Marquis sought to overlay the Bolden myth with fact and substance. Now, two movies are currently in production, inspired by the life of Buddy Bolden, and Marquis's authoritative biography.

The first movie, "Bolden," a musical biography, is now in post-production having been filmed on site in Wilmington, NC and New Orleans.  The second movie is a silent film, "The Great Observer." They are expected to be released together. The executive producer of both films is New Orleans native, Wynton Marsalis.

Bobby Braddock Talks

Bobby Braddock, the award-winning country songwriter behind tunes including "He Stopped Loving Her today," "D-I-V-O-R-C-E," and "I Wanna Talk About Me," and the author of a new memoir, Down in Orburndale: A Songwriter's Youth in Old Florida, spoke recently with Terry Gross on NPR’s FRESH AIR. Listen to the interview at: NPR.org

Louisiana State Museum Archives Radio Programs

Upon the death of three New Orleans Jazz legends—Anthony “Tuba Fats” Lacen, Harold Dejan, and Milton Batiste—Mick Burns (1942-2007), a jazz musician and author of Keeping the Beat on the Street: The New Orleans Brass Band Renaissance, prepared a one-hour radio tribute for each that included music by and interviews with the musician. The Louisiana State Museum has recently added these three programs to its digital sound archives, supporting the audio files with relevant photographs and text. Together, the programs provide a compelling oral history of the New Orleans jazz scene for most of the twentieth century. To find the programs, go to the Louisiana State Museum Jazz Collection Web site at: http://louisdl.louislibraries.org/JAZ/Pages/home.html and search for “Mick Burns”.