Powerful Jazz Film “Bolden” Paints a Greater Socio-Political Story
Bolden Film Plants Seed of Real-Life Jazz Creator’s Mythology and Harvests a Stark Reflection of the Dark Side of America’s Soul
by A. Scott Galloway
Jazz music is America’s greatest homegrown art contribution to the world. Like anything that comes out of this country, its inventor paid a dear price for having just enough so-called freedom to create it. Jazz’s creator is a cornet player out of New Orleans named Buddy Bolden. A new film by first time director Dan Pritzker entitled “Bolden” places the fiery musician front and center in what is not so much a biopic – since very little is known about the man – but a plunge into Reconstruction America of the 1890s time period in which he taught Gospel music to dance amidst the bitter realities of post-slavery America.
