Directed by Dan Pritzker, Bolden follows the tragic life of Buddy Bolden, played by Gary Carr, an unsung inventor of jazz. The movie is filled with compelling images. It’s a story worth telling since his life ended up in a mental asylum. They were placed under their tragic and brutal treatment, never released, and died twenty-five years later.

According to production notes, little biographical information is known about Bolden, and no recordings of his music are available anywhere – tragically gone.

Pritzker uses fragmented memories of Bolden’s past against the political and social context in which his revolutionary music was conceived. The movie is about passion, greed, and a musical genius in the early 1900s in New Orleans.

Wynton Marsalis, who is also one of the producers, wrote, arranged, and performed the movie’s original music. The dance scene in the sweatshop looks promising.

The movie co-stars Erik LaRay Harvey, Yaya DaCosta, Ian McShane, and Michael Rooker. You can also see McShane in Hellboy. He plays men who are outraged in both movies.

The next run of movie clips shows how the movie is not linear but told in flashbacks. My favorite is the “Seamstress Dance” clip. The “Clapping Out” clip is my next favorite. Though there is not much information about Bolden, the movie is told as if Bolden is a mythical character, a legend.