My First Book - The Loudest Trumpet
I intend to post information about my published works here for the benefit of new viewers. Here’s the story of my first jazz history publication as posted on the Jazz History Writing Facebook group page -
The Loudest Trumpet: Buddy Bolden and the Early History of Jazz
Although I had been a lover of history, and jazz, and had been a jazz musician, it was not until the late 1990’s that I began to take an interest in jazz history research.
What inspired me was the discovery in a local bookshop of a fascinating book - In Search of Buddy Bolden: First Man of Jazz by New Orleans writer Don Marquis. I was fascinated by Mr. Marquis’ diligent research into the history of a fabled figure I had long known as the first leader of a jazz orchestra. I decided to look further into the story, particularly Mr. Marquis’ account of the music played by Bolden and his contemporaries.
I read what I could find on the subject but there was not enough I needed to know about it in local libraries. In 1997 my wife and I visited New Orleans and spent some time looking at the records at the Jazz Archive at Tulane University. With the assistance of Curator Bruce Raeburn and Alma Freeman, we looked into the information available about Buddy Bolden and his music. Mr. Marquis was kind enough to have lunch with us and made some suggestions about further research into the music.
I found that there was a lot information that needed to be assembled to make an account of the musical side of the story. By 1997 I had a manuscript I thought ready for publication but decided that I would be unlikely find a publisher for such a work. A friend told me about the on-line publisher Writer’s Club Press, (now renamed iUniverse) that would publish your work internationally for a small charge, and market it.
I submitted the manuscript and it was published in 2000. Surprisingly It began to sell in small numbers and it continues to do so.
“The Loudest Trumpet: Buddy Bolden and the Early History of Jazz summarizes Marquis work and gives an extended account of the music of Bolden and his contemporaries.
Here’s part of what reviewer, Joe Bebco, said about it in the Syncopated Times, after reviewing Don Marquis’ book:
… “To get the rest of the story you’ll need to read The Loudest Trumpet by Daniel Hardie. The book can be seen as a sequel to or expansion of In Search of Buddy Bolden. The first chapters refresh the reader on the biographical details unearthed by Marquis, but the bulk of 220 pages are devoted to a richly detailed investigation of the musical environment around him, and an attempt to identify his true place in the history of jazz.
…If you find the preceding paragraphs fascinating The Loudest Trumpet is a must-read book for you. Hardie has done his homework, he is familiar with all of the writers that have approached these topics in the past and cognizant of their biases and controversies. To put his own ideas in perspective, he discusses the ideas of Rudi Blesh, Gunther Schuller, Frank Tirro, and others. As a non-academic discussion of what makes New Orleans jazz what it is this book is hard to top.
Further details of the book and its content can be accessed at:
http://members.ozemail.com.au/%7Edarnhard/BuddyBolden.html
