''Bolden'' is a 2019 American

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

based on the life of

cornet The cornet (, ) is a brass instrument similar to the trumpet but distinguished from it by its conical bore, more compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B. There is also a soprano cor ...

ist

Buddy Bolden Charles Joseph "Buddy" Bolden (September 6, 1877 – November 4, 1931) was an American cornetist who was regarded by contemporaries and later jazz scholars as a key figure in the development of a New Orleans style of ragtime music, or "jass ...

(1877–1931). One of the seminal figures in jazz history, Bolden left no surviving recordings, having been committed in 1907 at age 30 to the Louisiana State Insane Asylum, where he spent the rest of his life after a diagnosis of acute alcoholic psychosis. The musical drama is directed by

Daniel Pritzker Daniel Pritzker (born 1959) is an American billionaire heir, musician, film director, and member of the Pritzker family. Early life and education Pritzker was born to a Jewish family, the son of Marian (née Friend) and Jay Pritzker. He is the ...

, and features original music written, arranged and performed by

Wynton Marsalis Wynton Learson Marsalis (born October 18, 1961) is an American trumpeter, composer, and music instructor, who is currently the artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. He has been active in promoting classical and jazz music, often to young ...

. The film stars Gary Carr as Bolden, and co-stars

Erik LaRay Harvey Erik LaRay Harvey is an American actor known for his roles as Dunn Purnsley in ''Boardwalk Empire'', Willis Stryker / Diamondback in ''Luke Cage'', and his role in '' The Charnel House'' (2016). Early life Harvey was born in Washington, D.C. In ...

Reno Wilson Roy "Reno" Wilson (born January 20, 1969) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Howard in the sitcom '' The Cosby Show'', Officer Carl McMillan in '' Mike & Molly'', Stan Hill in '' Good Girls'', Wes in '' The Chronicle'' (2001 ...

Yaya DaCosta Yaya DaCosta (born November 15, 1982) is an American actress and model. She was the runner-up in Cycle 3 of ''America's Next Top Model''. DaCosta eventually went on to star in ABC's daytime drama series ''All My Children'' (2008), ABC's comedy ...

Ian McShane Ian David McShane (born 29 September 1942) is an English actor. His television performances include the title role in the BBC series ''Lovejoy'' (1986–1994), Al Swearengen in '' Deadwood'' (2004–2006) and its 2019 film continuation, and M ...

and

Michael Rooker Michael Rooker (born April 6, 1955) is an American actor who mainly plays roles of antagonists. He first rose to prominence for portraying the titular role in '' Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer'' (1986), and is best known for starring as Mer ...

. The score by Marsalis includes vocalists Catherine Russell,

Brianna Thomas Brianna Thomas is an American jazz singer, vocalist, composer, songwriter, band leader, and percussionist. She was born and raised in Peoria, Illinois, United States. She made her singing debut at the age of six. She is the daughter of drummer and ...

, Don Vappie, and instrumentalists including

Wycliffe Gordon Wycliffe A. Gordon (born May 29, 1967) is an American jazz trombonist, arranger, composer, band leader, and music educator at the collegiate-conservatory level. Gordon also sings and plays didgeridoo, trumpet, soprano trombone, tuba, and piano ...

Victor Goines Victor Louis Goines (born August 6, 1961) is a jazz saxophonist and clarinetist who has served as president and chief executive officer of Jazz St. Louis since September 2022. From 2000 to 2007, he was director of the jazz program at Juilliard. ...

Marcus Printup Marcus Edward Printup (born January 24, 1967) is an American jazz trumpeter who attended the University of North Florida Jazz Studies program and went on to work with Betty Carter, Wynton Marsalis, The Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra, and Tim H ...

, and others. The film contains performances by

playing Louis Armstrong (acting and singing). ''Bolden'' was released in theaters on May 3, 2019, by Abramorama.

Cast

* Gary Carr as Charles "Buddy" Bolden *

as Bartley *

as Judge Leander Perry *

as Pat McMurphy *

as Nora Bolden *

Louis Armstrong Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several era ...

Robert Ri'chard Robert Andrew Ri'chard (born January 7, 1983) is an American actor, known for his roles as Bobby Walker on the Nickelodeon sitcom ''Cousin Skeeter'' (1998–2002), and as Arnaz Ballard on the UPN sitcom ''One on One (American TV series), One on On ...

as George Baquet *

Karimah Westbrook Karimah Westbrook (born October 6, 1978) is an American actress best known for her role as Grace James in The CW drama series, '' All American''. Life and career Westbrook was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. She attended the American Academy ...

as Alice Bolden * Breon Pugh as Willie Warner *

Ser'Darius Blain Ser'Darius William Blain (born March 10, 1987) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Anthony "Fridge" Johnson in the ''Jumanji (franchise), Jumanji'' film series, appearing in the sequel entries ''Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle' ...

Willie Cornish William Cornish (August 1, 1875January 12, 1942) was an early jazz musicianknown for his being very active on the New Orleans scene playing, leading bands, and teaching music for decades. Career He was a member of Buddy Bolden's pioneering New ...

Reception

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, the film holds an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . On

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, the film has a weighted average score of 50 out of 100, based on 10 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.

References

External links

* * 2019 films African-American biographical dramas African-American drama films Films shot in New Orleans Films shot in North Carolina Films scored by Mark Isham Films scored by Wynton Marsalis 2010s English-language films 2010s American films Biographical films about musicians English-language biographical drama films {{bio-film-stub