''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. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

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, though there is also a so ...

ist

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

(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 Pritzker was born to a Jewish family, the son of Marian (née Friend) and Jay Pritzker. He is the grandson of A. ...

, and features original music written, arranged and performed by

Wynton Marsalis Wynton Learson Marsalis (born October 18, 1961) is an American trumpeter, composer, teacher, and artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. He has promoted classical and jazz music, often to young audiences. Marsalis has won nine Grammy Awar ...

. The film stars Gary Carr as Bolden, and co-stars Erik LaRay Harvey, Reno Wilson,

Yaya DaCosta Camara DaCosta Johnson (born November 15, 1982), better known as Yaya DaCosta, is an American actress and model. She was the runner-up in Cycle 3 of ''America's Next Top Model''. DaCosta eventually went to star in ABC's daytime drama series ''Al ...

Ian McShane Ian David McShane (born 29 September 1942) is an English actor, producer and director. He is known for his television performances, particularly as the title role in the BBC series '' Lovejoy'' (1986–1994), Al Swearengen in ''Deadwood'' (20 ...

and

Michael Rooker Michael Rooker (born April 6, 1955) is an American actor known for his roles as Henry in '' Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer'' (1986), Chick Gandil in '' Eight Men Out'' (1988), Frank Baily in '' Mississippi Burning'' (1988), Terry Cruger in '' ...

. The score by Marsalis includes vocalists Catherine Russell, Brianna Thomas, 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, Marcus Printup, and others. The film contains performances by Reno Wilson playing Louis Armstrong (acting and singing). ''Bolden'' was released in theaters on May 3, 2019, by Abramorama.

Cast

* Gary Carr as Charles "Buddy" Bolden * Erik LaRay Harvey as Bartley *

as Judge Leander Perry *

as Pat McMurphy *

as Nora Bolden * Reno Wilson as Louis Armstrong * Robert Ri'chard as George Baquet * Karimah Westbrook as Alice Bolden * Breon Pugh as Willie Warner * Ser'Darius Blain as

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 ...

Reception

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American 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, and Stephen Wan ...

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

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

, 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 2010s English-language films 2010s American films {{bio-film-stub