BUDDY BOLDEN

A lot have been written about the jazz pioneer Buddy Bolden. Most of it colorful tales that later have been proven wrong. The book “Buddy Bolden’s Storyville Blues” deals with his life as a famous band leader, who was revered by his own people and feared by the white folks.

 

Buddy BOLDEN was born in 1868 in New Orleans and had his heyday roughly from 1900 to 1905. New Orleans was at his feet, and everyone was talking about this musical wizard who turned stiff ragtime into a new cross-border music we call jazz. There was change in the air, and other musicians were also experimenting, but Bolden was in front, adding his own ideas and freely improvised on ragtime, blues, the songs of the day and the music from the church. He came up with something new fresh and exciting that made people laugh, cry and dance and became the talk of the town. The stories about Buddy Bolden’s woman affairs and disputes with the Creole bandleader John Robichaux, stand, but the myths about Bolden as editor of the scandal sheet known as the Cricket and owner of a barbershop, I have chosen to pass by in silence as they are no more than that. Robert Charles and the insurrection in the year 1900 is a vital part of my history and not dealing with this tragedy would in my opinion be a serious mistake as it influenced all people living in New Orleans. Buddy Bolden had the problems that are inevitable for a popular bandleader: Intrigue, money, jealousy, too much or too little work, and lovesick women, who fought to catch his attention. At the same time Buddy tried to maintain a normal life with his pretty common-law wife, Nora Bass.  Authorities were harassing Buddy Bolden and his musicians. The new improvised ragtime music, with its undertones of sexual liberation, was too much for the white upper class and Bolden was seen as dangerous. The strict Judge Fogarty was hostile towards Bolden and made ​​life hard for him and his musicians.   Buddy Bolden went insane in 1907 and was admitted to the mental hospital in Jackson, where he stayed until his death in 1931. In order to tell the whole story of Buddy Bolden’s era in New Orleans, I have chosen fiction, and I hope after reading this novel you will have a insight into the time and milieu into which the first revolutionary jazz came to existence.

While I wrote this book I always had the late Milton Batiste from New Orleans in mind. In his heyday he was like Buddy Bolden a charismatic figure. A trumpet player of enormous strength, charismatic and with an eye for the pretty girls. He always reminded me to have fun and I am sure Buddy Bolden would have told me the same. Now Gregg Stafford and Leroy Jones carry the torch.

NORA BASS

Nora was Buddy Bolden’s second common-law wife and my storyteller. She was born in the year of 1880 and lived together with Buddy roughly from 1900 and left him in 1905/1906.   She was a Creole and came from wealthy family. We know that there was friction between Buddy’s and her family, and that he eventually was taken to prison for attacking Ida Bass, Nora’s mother.    Nora and Buddy had a daughter Bernedine, and when Buddy in 1907 was committed to the mental hospital, Nora left New Orleans and moved to Iowa, where the historian/musician Bill Russell found her in 1942.    There exists only little information about the women, who surrounded Buddy and his musicians, but the author Frederic Ramsey located some of them with great difficulty. No one wanted to talk about the old days, claiming that they by now had got religion, but it is a known fact that many of the early jazzmen found prestige (an income) in having girls working for them as prostitutes. Even Louis Armstrong tried his hand as a pimp, without much luck though. Nora Bass’ experiences in Storyville are based on my imagination, but the actions I describe are all known to have happened in the Red Light District in New Orleans “The Land Of Dreams.”

Nora Bass died, when she was in her seventies. The exact date is not known.

TOM ANDERSON.

Tom was born in 1858 and was one of Storyville’s most famous personalities, the owner of several restaurants, including The Fair Play Saloon and Arlington Annex, later known as Tom Anderson’s. Here many young musicians made their first appearances among others the young Louis Armstrong.

Tom Anderson was a pimp in the grand style and was the man behind the release of “The Blue Book” a guide to the numerous brothels in Storyville with rich descriptions of them and the girls working there. This activity helped to give him the nickname: The King Of The Whores.    Tom Anderson was also active as a politician and was elected senator twice without in any way diminishing his activities in Storyville. This gave him a new nickname: The Mayor of Storyville.    As the navy closed Storyville Tom Anderson continued as a restaurateur, but in 1920 the authorities tried to get him convicted for pimping. He was not  sentenced, but his credibility suffered badly.   Many people have testified that Tom Anderson was generous and a gentleman to boot, but he was without doubt very often on the wrong side of the law. He died in 1931.

ERNEST BELLOCQ.

Ernest Bellocq (1873 – 1949) was a professional photographer in New Orleans. He made his living by photographing technical installations, ships, and he also worked for the Catholic Church, where his brother Leon was a priest. His passion, however, was to photograph prostitutes, and even if a large amount of his work is lost, there is still enough left for a sneak peek into Storyville.

His photographs are not in any way pornographic. The girls in the pictures were not particularly happy or sad, but the pictures have an undertone of melancholy, which makes them hard to forget. They make you think that the girls more or less knew that life as a prostitute was what was meted out to them in this world, and the dream of a knight in shining amour was a utopia. When Bellocq lived, his photos of prostitutes were something he kept as a secret and he would have been very surprised had he lived to see his work at The Museum of Modern Art in New York. It has not made ​​the photographs less interesting that several of the girls had their eyes scratched out on the photographs. “Buddy Bolden’s Storyville Blues” offers a new explanation of this mystery.

Buddy Bolden

Meget er skrevet om jazzpioneren Buddy Bolden. Det meste er fantasifulde historier, der senere har vist sig at være forkerte. Bogen Buddy Boldens Storyville Blues fortæller om hans liv som en berømt orkesterleder, der var beundret af sine egne og frygtet af de hvide.

 

 

Buddy Bolden blev født 1858 i New Orleans og havde sin storhedstid fra ca. år 1900 til 1905. New Orleans lå for hans fødder, og alle talte om denne musikalske troldmand, som forandrede den lidt stive ragtimemusik til den nye grænseoverskridende musikstil, som vi kalder jazz. Der var forandring i luften, og også andre musikere eksperimenterede, men Bolden var i front. Han tilføjede sine egne ideer og improviserede over ragtimemelodier, blues, dagens melodier og kirkens musik. Han kom med noget nyt friskt og spændende, som fik folk til at le, græde og danse.

Historierne om Boldens kvindeaffærer og stridigheder med den kreolske bandleader John Robichaux ligger fast, men myten om Bolden som redaktør af skandalebladet, kendt som ”The Cricket” og ejer af en barbersalon, er intet andet end ubegrundede rygter. Robert Charles og oprøret i år 1900 er en vital del af bogen og at undlade at beskrive denne tragedie, ville være en grov fejltagelse, da den påvirkede alle i New Orleans. Buddy Bolden havde de problemer, som er uundgåelige for en så populær orkesterleder: Intriger, pengesorger, jalousi, for meget eller for lidt arbejde og kærlighedshungrende kvinder, som kæmpede for at fange hans opmærksomhed. På samme tid forsøgte Buddy at opretholde et normalt liv med sin smukke samleverske, Nora Bass. Autoriteterne forfulgte Buddy Bolden og hans musikere. Denne nye improviserede ragtimemusik med dens undertoner af seksuel frigørelse var for provokerende for den hvide overklasse,og Bolden blev anset som farlig. Den strenge dommer John Fogarty var fjendtlig stillet overfor Bolden og gjorde livet surt for ham og hans musikere. Buddy Bolden blev sindssyg i 1907 og indlagt på et sindssygehospital i Jackson, hvor han forblev indtil sin død i 1931. For at kunne fortælle hele historien om Buddy Boldens æra i New Orleans, er fiktionen valgt, og håbet er, at man efter læsningen vil have en indsigt i tiden og miljøet, hvor den første revolutionerende jazz opstod.

Da jeg skrev bogen, havde jeg afdøde Milton Batiste fra New Orleans i tankerne. I sin storhedstid, var han som Buddy Bolden. En karismatisk trompetist med en kraftfuld tone, nye ideer og øje for de søde piger. Han mindede mig altid om, at vi skulle huske at more os, og jeg er sikker på, at Buddy Bolden ville have sagt det samme. I dag er det Gregg Stafford og Leroy Jones, der bærer Bolden-faklen.

Nora Bass

Nora var Buddy Boldens anden samleverske og historiens fortæller. Hun blev født i 1880 og levede sammen med Bolden ”off and on” fra år 1900, til hun forlod ham i 1905/1906. Hun var kreol og kom fra en velhavende familie. Vi ved, at der var gnidninger mellem Buddys og hendes familie, og at han sent i deres forhold kom i fængsel for at overfalde Noras mor, Ida Bass. Nora og Buddy havde en datter Bernedine, og da Buddy i 1907 blev indlagt på sindssygehospital, forlod Nora New Orleans og flyttede til Iowa, hvor historikeren/musikeren Bill Russel fandt hende i 1942. Der er kun få informationer om de kvinder, som var i kredsen omkring Buddy og hans musikere, men forfatteren Frederic Ramsey lokaliserede nogle af dem med stort besvær. Ingen ønskede at tale om fortiden, idet de nu var blevet religiøse, men det er en kendsgerning, at mange af de tidligere jazzmusikere fik prestige (og indkomst) ved at have piger, der arbejdede for dem. Selv Louis Armstrong prøvede lykken som alfons, dog uden megen held. Nora Bass’ oplevelser i Storyville er baseret på fantasi, men de beskrevne hændelser er alle kendt for at have fundet sted i New Orleans’ Red Light District. Nora Bass døde, da hun var i slutningen af 70erne. Den eksakte dato er ukendt.

Tom Anderson

Tom blev født i 1858 og var en af Storyvilles mest kendte personligheder. Han var ejer af adskillige restauranter, bl.a. The Fair Play Saloon og Arlington Annex, senere kendt som Tom Anderson’s. Her optrådte mange unge musikere bl.a. Louis Armstrong. Tom Anderson var alfons i stor stil og  manden bag udgivelsen af ”The Blue Book”, en guide til de utallige bordeller i Storyville med udførlige beskrivelser også af pigerne, der arbejdede der. Denne aktivitet var med til at give ham tilnavnet ”Ludernes Konge”. Tom Anderson var også aktiv i politik og blev valgt til senator to gange, uden at dette formindskede hans aktivitet i Storyville. Dette gav ham et nyt tilnavn ”Storyvilles borgmester”. Da flåden lukkede Storyville, fortsatte Tom Anderson som restauratør, men i 1920 sigtede myndighederne ham for alfonseri. Han blev ikke dømt, men hans omdømme led stor skade. Mange mennesker har fortalt, at Tom Anderson var en gentleman og generøs. Men at han ofte var på den forkerte side af loven er utvivlsomt. Han døde i 1931.

Ernest Bellocq

Ernest Bellocq (1873-1949) var en professionel fotograf fra New Orleans. Han levede af at fotografere tekniske installationer og arbejdede også for den katolske kirke, hvor hans bror Leon var præst. Hans passion var imidlertid at fotografere prostituerede, og selv om en stor del af hans arbejde er gået tabt, er der stadigvæk nok tilbage til, at man kan få et smugkig på livet i Storyville.

Hans fotografier er på ingen måde pornografiske. Pigerne på fotografierne er hverken særlig glade eller bedrøvede, men de rummer en undertone af melankoli, som gør, at de er svære at glemme. Man får en fornemmelse af, at pigerne vidste, at livet som prostitueret var, hvad de kunne forvente i denne verden, og at drømmen om ridderen på den hvide hest var en utopi. Da Bellocq levede, var hans billeder af prostituerede noget han holdt hemmeligt, og han ville have været meget overrasket, hvis han havde oplevet at se sine billeder på The Museum of Moderne Art i New York. Det har ikke gjort fotografierne mindre interessante, at mange af pigernes øjne er kradset ud på billederne. Buddy Boldens Storyville Blues giver en ny forklaring på dette mysterium.