Buddy Bolden's Last Parade : a novel in 70 linocuts

‘I thought I heard Buddy Bolden shout ‘‘Open up that window and let that bad air out’’ ' -Jelly Roll Morton

Charles ‘Buddy’ Bolden was born around 1876 in New Orleans. Very little in known of him, Bolden’s music was never recorded and there is only one existing photograph. Yet he is considered to be the first bandleader to play the improvised music that has since become known as Jazz. Jelly Roll Morton, Sidney Bechet and Kid Ory referred to Bolden as the first “King of the cornet” and “the man who started it all”. What we know for sure of Bolden is that while playing in Henry Allen’s Brass Band - during the Labor Day parade of 1906- his career came to a tragic end. A burst blood vessel in his neck, brought on by a life of hard living and hard playing, resulted in mental instability which caused him to be institutionalized for the remainder of his life. He died in 1931.

In 2007 I created my first wordless graphic novel, Let That Bad Air Out: Buddy Bolden’s Last Parade, published by The Porcupine’s Quill. Using block prints to illustrate a story through a sequential single-image narrative, I portray the culture of New Orleans parade music through the narrative of the "first man of jazz," Buddy Bolden, and the break down that ended his musical life. The novel consists of 70 linocut images. The reason for choosing relief printmaking to illustrate my story is not only to pay homage to the artists who started the tradition of the wordless novel, but also to help revive interest and appreciation of the rich qualities of line and texture available with relief printmaking, which provide an aesthetic digital art cannot duplicate.

I was introduced to the sound of New Orleans jazz at Grossman's Tavern on Spedina in downtown Toronto, by a band called The Happy Pals. Michael Ondaatje's novel, Coming Through Slaughter furthered my interest in the legend of Buddy Bolden in particular. I imagined creating a silent novel about a particular kind of music and expressing the energy of a New Orleans parade through still images. Film footage from the late 1950s’, of the Eureka Brass Band marching on Claiborne Avenue, gave me a sense of how my story would look on the page.

Stefan Berg