He dropped out of the festivities before the finish. His final public performance was during a parade on Labor Day 1906. He became erratic and unreliable he eventually quit playing his coronet. His life, however, would deteriorate after the incident. “He was booked on a charge of being insane, and alcohol abuse was cited as the reason for his insanity.” He attacked his caregiver, who was either his mother or his mother-in-law. According to newspaper reports, Bolden, in a fit of psychosis, was convinced he was being drugged or poisoned. It never mattered because people loved him.īolden was arrested for the first time in 1906. He only improvised on his coronet, playing the ragtime music popular from the 1890s to the 1920s. He was unable to properly read music and had impaired motor function. Yet this talented pioneering jazz musician had schizophrenia. He played in parades, at picnics, parks and union halls, and was a favorite at the honky-tonks. During this time Bolden began studying the coronet.īolden would later become a working musician known for his loud sound and improvisational skills. He probably attended Fisk School and may have even graduated. It’s likely that there, from childhood, he was constantly exposed to brass bands parading through the streets. What music scholars do know is that Bolden grew up in the New Orleans’ neighborhood now known as Central City.
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