''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-g ...

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 sopr ...

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

Erik LaRay Harvey Erik LaRay Harvey (born 1972) is an American actor known for his roles as Dunn Purnsley in ''Boardwalk Empire'', Diamondback (Willis Stryker), Willis Stryker / Diamondback in ''Luke Cage (TV series), Luke Cage'', and his role in ''The Charnel Hous ...

, 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 ''All ...

, Ian McShane 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 ''S ...

. The score by Marsalis includes vocalists Catherine Russell, Brianna Thomas, Don Vappie, and instrumentalists including Wycliffe Gordon, Victor Goines,

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 ...

, 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 *

as Bartley * Ian McShane as Judge Leander Perry *

as Pat McMurphy *

as Nora Bolden * Reno Wilson as

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 television and film actor, known for his roles as Arnaz Ballard on the UPN sitcom '' One on One'' and Bobby Walker on the Nickelodeon sitcom ''Cousin Skeeter''. Early life Ri'chard was ...

George Baquet George Francis Baquet (July 22, 1881 – Jan. 14, 1949) was an American jazz clarinetist, known for his contributions to early jazz in New Orleans. His father, Theogene V. Baquet, eminent New Orleans musician and educator, was also a clarinetis ...

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 Academ ...

as Alice Bolden * Breon Pugh as Willie Warner *

Ser'Darius Blain Ser'Darius William Blain (born March 10, 1987) is a Haitian-American film and television actor. He is best known for his role as Anthony “Fridge” Johnson in the ''Jumanji'' film series, appearing in the third and fourth entries. Blain is als ...

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 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 Wang ...

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

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, 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 arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, 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