The second concert in the “Le 2 Rive del Jazz” festival will be held at the Lovere Tourist Port on Saturday 18 July at 8:30 PM, with “Buddy’s Smile-Omaggio a Buddy Bolden”, a group of ten top-notch musicians: Giovanni Falzone (lead trumpet), Boris Savoldelli (lead vocals), Corrado Guarino (piano and arrangements), Damiano Bertasa (clarinet), Giulia Morelli and Francesco Guarino (sax), Andrea La Bruna (trumpet), Francesco Salodini (trombone), Pietro Gozzini (contrabass), and Stefano Bertoli (drums). It all started with a photo, likely the first jazz photograph, taken around 1905, of Buddy Bolden, the first legendary jazz trumpeter who, a few years after that shot, was reportedly committed to a mental institution where he died in 1931. But Buddy Bolden and his band weren’t just the subjects of that photo; he (it is said) is also considered the first teacher of the legendary trumpeter Louis Armstrong. Unfortunately, no recordings of Buddy Bolden exist, as at the time it wasn’t customary to record musical performances, and even the authenticity of the photograph has been debated for over eighty years. The work of Luca Bragalini, musicologist and professor at the Luca Marenzio Conservatory in Brescia, is therefore particularly commendable. He has solved the enigma with research that is also significant for the history of photography. The concert program includes pieces presumably included in the repertoires of the first New Orleans jazz bands, the result of specific research by Professor Bragalini, which will be followed by historical tributes to Buddy Bolden by two great jazz composers such as Jelly-Roll Morton and Duke Ellington and that of Maestro Corrado.

Free admission, no reservations.

In case of bad weather, the concert will be held at the Villa Milesi municipal auditorium.

Event made possible thanks to the contribution of Regione Lombardia.

Text from the press release.
Cover image courtesy of The Editor Events.