byname of CHARLES BOLDEN (b. 1868, New Orleans, La., U.S.–d. Oct. 4, 1931, New Orleans), cornetist and semilegendary founding father of jazz. He was said by many jazz musicians, including the great trumpeter Louis Armstrong, to have been one of the most powerful musicians ever to play jazz.
Little is known about the details of Bolden’s career, but it is documented that he was a barber and that from 1895 to 1899 he led a band that included the cornetist Bunk Johnson. The acknowledged king of New Orleans lower musical life, Bolden often worked with six or seven different bands simultaneously. In 1906 his emotional stability began to crumble, and on June 5, 1907, he was committed to the East Louisiana State Hospital, from which he never emerged.