WATCH: Trailer released for Buddy Bolden movie
After 7 years in production, Dan Pritzker and Wynton Marsalis unveil their $100m project
A new biopic about the life of jazz pioneer Charles ‘Buddy’ Bolden is due for release next month, with trumpeter and executive producer Wynton Marsalis releasing his soundtrack to the film this week. Despite much of his life being shrouded in mystery, New Orleans cornet player Buddy Bolden was hugely influential and is often credited as being the father of jazz. The movie reimagines the life, music and passions of Bolden against the social backdrop of turn-of-the-20th-century America.
“Many mythologies have a hero that comes from the bottom of whatever the social construct is, because that puts people more in touch with their humanity and takes them out of their system,” Marsalis told USA TODAY. “He created a coherent soul. He had a virtuosity of putting together the feeling of the church and the marches.”
Downton Abbey’s Gary Carr will play the title role in ‘Bolden’ which is written and directed by Dan Pritzker, and released in US cinemas on May 3rd.