Buddy Bolden

"He'd turn his big trumpet toward the city and blow his blues," recalled the New Orleans pianist, Jelly Roll Morton, "calling his children home as he used to say.  The whole town would know that Buddy Bolden was in the Park, ten or twelve miles from the center of town.  He was the blowingest man ever lived since Gabriel."

Charles "Buddy" Bolden (1877? - 1931) was a jazz legend from from New Orleans, no recordings of his music exist. He’s most famous for the song “Funky Butt” it inspired jazz standard: Buddy Bolden's Blues aka. Thought I Heard Buddy Bolden Say

Facts about The King of Jazz:

1. He played jazz before there was a word for jazz.
2. He pioneered art of improvisation.
3. Also known as the “King” or “King of the Cornet.”
4. Members of Bolden Band included: Sidney Bechet, Frankie Dusen, and Bunk Johnson.
5. He was a major influence Jelly Roll Morton.
6. His music stood in sharp contrast to anything anyone had heard before.
7. Young Louise Armstrong used to come to hear him play.
8. His life was ruined by wine and women.
9. He worked as a barber by day.
10. He was committed to a mental institution in 1907 after several break-downs.

Sources:
www.neworleansonline.com/culture/bolden.shtml
www.southernmusic.net/buddybolden.htm
www.redhotjazz.com/buddy.html