Shomari's Cultural Outsider Playlist
November 14, 2023 The style of music that this blog highlights is jazz music in America, which is characterizes by numerous improvised melodies and syncopated rhythms. Many see Jazz as a safe space for creativity, which I think is the main reason for its popularity. While this is true, even jazz has its own unique and intrinsic formulas that are "usually" followed. Hopefully this will be seen throughout this presentation. I'd like to open this playlist up with none other than a man that influenced even the greats. His name was Buddy Bolden, the man who played jazz before it was jazz. Charles Buddy Bolden, or "King" Bolden, was born September 1877 in New Orleans, Louisiana. A place widely regarded as the birthplace of jazz. I can try to describe his playing style as loud and confident, but I think that this quote by Michael Ondaatje said it best. "We thought he was formless, but I think now he was tormented by order, what was outside it. He tore apart the