Scott Bradlee

Not to be confused with Scott Bradley.
Scott Bradlee
Background information
Born (1981-09-19) September 19, 1981
Long Island, New York
Genres Jazz, ragtime, swing
Instruments Piano, keyboards, guitar

Scott Bradlee (born September 19, 1981)[1] is an American musician, pianist, and arranger. He is best known for his viral videos on YouTube, including his work under the moniker Postmodern Jukebox—an ever-evolving, revolving collective of performers playing popular music in period styles

Biography

Bradlee grew up in the Pattenburg section of Union Township, Hunterdon County, New Jersey where he fell in love with jazz at the age of 12 after hearing George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue for the first time.[2][3][4] He attended North Hunterdon High School[5] and later the University of Hartford.

Bradlee became a successful performer in the New York jazz scene,[6] and served as music director for an interactive, off-Broadway theater experience called Sleep No More.[7]

In looking for creative inspiration, Bradlee began reworking popular music as an exercise. In 2009, he released "Hello My Ragtime '80s", which incorporated ragtime-style piano into popular music from the 1980s. After playing and experimenting on stage at his regular gig at Robert Restaurant, he released the compilation Mashups by Candlelight. Bradlee gained popularity in 2012 with A Motown Tribute to Nickelback, a collaboration with local musicians which arranged Nickelback's songs in the style of 1960s style R&B music.[7]

In 2013, Bradlee began to work more seriously on forming Postmodern Jukebox, a rotating group of musicians producing covers of pop songs in alternate styles, including jazz, ragtime, and swing. The group burst onto the public radar with their doo-wop cover of Miley Cyrus's "We Can't Stop", featuring Robyn Adele Anderson and guest artists, The Tee-Tones. As the viral surge grew, Bradlee was interviewed by news outlets such as NPR[8] and also performed live on Good Morning America and Fuse.[9] The group visited Cosmopolitan Magazine's New York office for a year-end review of their work and popular songs from the year.[10]

Several artists have publicly noted their appreciation for the group's work. Among the group's prominent guest musicians are Dave Koz, who collaborated with them in jazz covers of "Careless Whisper" and the Game of Thrones theme music, and Niia, who joined them for a "space jazz" version of "The End of the World". Postmodern Jukebox's October 2013 collaboration with Puddles Pity Party on a cover of Lorde's "Royals" generated particularly strong interest; as of September 2014, this video remained the second most popular on Bradlee's YouTube channel with over 15.1 million hits.[11]

In 2013, Bradlee found interest from the video game industry, gaining a composer credit for 2K Games' BioShock Infinite soundtrack, which features four of his stylized arrangements: a piano cover of Tears for Fears' "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" (piano and vocals), a jazzy ragtime cover of Gloria Jones' "Tainted Love" (arrangement, piano),[12] and covers of R.E.M.'s "Shiny Happy People" (arrangement and piano) and "After You’ve Gone" (arrangement, piano).[13]

In early September 2014, Bradlee uploaded a 1940s jazz interpretation of "All About That Bass" called "All About That (Upright) Bass", featuring Kate Davis and Casey Abrams singing solo while playing double bass, with Bradlee on piano and Dave Tedeschi on drums. The video received 8 million hits in three months.[14][15] Also in 2014, Bradlee's YouTube Channel "Postmodern Jukebox" was listed as #42 on NewMediaRockstars' "Top 100 Channels".[16]

In late 2014 to 2015, Postmodern Jukebox toured extensively through America and Europe with its rotating cast of musical contributors.[17] On Feb. 24th, Postmodern Jukebox co-headlined the Dubai Jazz Festival, alongside Sting, Toto, Chris Botti, and David Gray. On February 26, the band kicked off a 75-date international tour at Vicar Street in Dublin, Ireland, wrapping on June 4 in Ankara, Turkey.

Postmodern Jukebox

Main article: Postmodern Jukebox
Postmodern Jukebox

Background information
Origin New York City, New York
Genres Jazz, ragtime, swing
Years active 2011 (2011)-present
Website Postmodern Jukebox
Members See list

Bradlee's most notable work to date has been with the band he created - Postmodern Jukebox. The band posts weekly covers of recent pop songs with jazz or other genre variations. As of June 2016, the Postmodern Jukebox YouTube channel has over 2 million subscribers and has surpassed over 490 million views.

Discography

Albums

Scott Bradlee [18]
Year Album Peak chart positions Notes
Jazz Albums Top Heatseekers Top Independent Albums
2012Mashups by Candlelight———
2013 A Motown Tribute to Nickelback———
Mashups by Candlelight, Vol. 2———
Introducing Postmodern Jukebox (EP)831—
2014 Twist is the New Twerk4748
Clubbin′ With Grandpa 4——
Saturday Morning Slow Jams ———
Historical Misappropriation 3743#20 on Billboard Jazz Albums: Year End 2015.[19]
A Very Postmodern Christmas 722—
2015 Selfies on Kodachrome6——
Emoji Antique8——
Swipe Right For Vintage 519—
Top Hat On Fleek 620—
2016 PMJ And Chill ———
Swing the Vote ———

References

  1. ↑ Scott Bradlee (2014-01-30). "well my birthday is 9/19/81- so that's a start!". Scott Bradlee's Twitter feed. Archived from the original on 2014-03-04. Retrieved 2014-08-15.
  2. ↑ Kuperinsky, Amy. "Vintage gone viral: Scott Bradlee's Postmodern Jukebox takes music back in time", NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, October 14, 2014. Accessed July 9, 2015. "Bradlee grew up in Pattenburg, a part of Union Township in Hunterdon County."
  3. ↑ Biography, Scott Bradlee & Postmodern Jukebox. Accessed July 9, 2015. "Which isn’t to discount the importance to Bradlee’s development of Michael Jackson’s Bad, the vinyl incarnation of which was, he says, 'the first album I ever loved.' That was when he was six, growing up in Pattenburg, New Jersey, where he moved at four from Nesconset, New York. He took piano lessons, but they didn’t take. Then, at age 12, Bradlee heard Rhapsody in Blue and was forever changed."
  4. ↑ Lent, Jesse. "K-Pop Crossover: Scott Bradlee And Robyn Adele Anderson Of Postmodern Jukebox On Covering Psy's 'Gentleman'". K-Pop Starz. Archived from the original on 2014-01-14. Retrieved 2014-01-16.
  5. ↑ Post Modern Jukebox Coming to Lehigh!, North Hunterdon High School, October 16, 2015. Accessed November 5, 2015. "Scott Bradlee, the creator of Post Modern Jukebox (the band that covers contemporary pop songs in jazz, ragtime, etc. styles), WENT HERE! That’s right; the father of PMJ was once in your shoes as a North Hunterdon High School student!"
  6. ↑ Deming, Mark. "Jazz pianist takes pop hits and sends them through a musical time machine for fun and profit.". All Music. Archived from the original on 2014-08-15. Retrieved 2014-01-16.
  7. 1 2 "Biography: Scott Bradlee & Postmodern Jukebox". kennedy-center.org. The Kennedy Center. Archived from the original on August 21, 2015. Retrieved 20 August 2015.
  8. ↑ "A Vintage Filter on Today's Top 40". NPR. Archived from the original on 2014-02-22. Retrieved 2014-01-16.
  9. ↑ "Watch: Scott Bradlee Drops Genre-Bending Cover of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen"". Fuse. Archived from the original on 2014-04-20. Retrieved 2014-01-17.
  10. ↑ Ingber, David. "CONVERSATION STARTERS The Most Unbelievable 2013 Pop Music Re-Mix You'll Hear". Cosmopolitan magazine. Cosmopolitan magazine. Archived from the original on 2014-08-15. Retrieved 2014-01-16.
  11. ↑ ScottBradleeLovesYa, YouTube. Retrieved on 2014-09-25 from https://www.youtube.com/user/ScottBradleeLovesYa.
  12. ↑ Pinchefsky, Carol. "Irrational Games Makes Serious Misstep with 'BioShock: Infinite' Soundtrack Offering". Forbes magazine. Forbes magazine. Archived from the original on 2014-02-22. Retrieved 2014-01-16.
  13. ↑ Bradlee, Scott. "My Music in Bioshock Infinite". Postmodern Jukebox. Retrieved 2014-08-21.
  14. ↑ Min, Ariel (December 10, 2014). "YouTube crooner all about that upright bass and then some". Art Beat: PBS NewsHour. NewsHour Productions. Retrieved January 3, 2015.
  15. ↑ Barness, Sarah (September 10, 2014). "'All About That (Upright) Bass' Gives A Jazzy Twist To A Great Message". Entertainment: The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com. Retrieved January 3, 2015.
  16. ↑ "The NMR Top 100 YouTube Channels: 50-26!". New Media Rockstars. Retrieved 6 January 2015.
  17. ↑ Mark Deming. "Scott Bradlee's Postmodern Jukebox: Biography". AllMusic. p. Biography. Retrieved 10 February 2016.
  18. ↑ "Awards: Scott Bradlee". AllMusic. Retrieved 17 April 2016.
  19. ↑ "Jazz Albums: Year End 2015". Billboard (magazine). Archived from the original on April 17, 2016. Retrieved 17 April 2016.
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