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Bradley Williams

Bradley Williams cut his teeth in a two-year stint with Woody Herman's Thundering Herd in the mid- '80s, both as pianist and arranger. After settling in Chicago he gained notoriety as musical director at the legendary Gold Star Sardine Bar.
Following his tenure there he created his modern jazz variety show, The Original 21st Century Review, which went on to record numerous CDs and soundtracks, touring internationally. During this period he also began to perform as a vocalist. In Chicago he's had long tenures with saxophonist Von Freeman and trumpeter Art Hoyle, is a favorite pianist of visiting New York vocalist Sheila Jordan, and performed with Joe Henderson at Chicago's Jazz Showcase.
In 2011, Williams released a new CD, “Sojourn,” featuring his trio and a string quartet in a 12-part suite of original compositions.
2012 saw the release of his first trio recording in some time, "3," a collaboration with fellow composer and bassist Eric Hochberg, along with drummer Jim Widlowski.
The pianist has been a part-time professor of Jazz Studies at Chicago's DePaul University for 20 years and also teaches piano and vocal lessons at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois.

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5
Album Review

Bradley Williams / Eric Hochberg / Jim Widlowski: 3

Read "3" reviewed by Ian Patterson


Stalwarts of the Chicago music scene and veterans of an impressive array of collaborations with a who's who of jazz, pianist Bradley Williams, bassist Eric Hochberg--who together penned all the tunes-- and drummer Jim Widlowski make their debut trio recording with 3, an elegant, straight-ahead set of originals. Much of Williams' recorded output over the past twenty years has reflected his love of the music of Cole Porter, Jimmy Van Heusen, Frank Loesser and The Great American Songbook, so the ...

3
Album Review

Bradley Williams, Eric Hochberg, and Jim Widlowski: 3

Read "3" reviewed by Chris Mosey


Bradley Williams is a talented, resourceful jazz musician who, for two years in the mid-1980s, was pianist/arranger with Woody Herman's Thundering Herd. He settled in Chicago, becoming house pianist at the legendary Gold Star Sardine Bar. They called it that because it could take only 50 people, though such was its reputation that stars such as Frank Sinatra and Liza Minnelli performed there. When the bar closed as a regular venue in 1997, Williams created The Original ...

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1

Recording

"3" - A Refreshing Approach to the Art of the Piano Trio

"3" - A Refreshing Approach to the Art of the Piano Trio

Source: Bradley Williams

After 20 years of musical collaboration pianist Bradley Williams and bassist Eric Hochberg, along with drummer Jim Widlowski, join forces with this excursion through 12 diverse originals, penned by Williams and Hochberg. The program opens with the driving “Penultimatum" and a thoughtful pause in “The Garden." After some beatnik bongos with a “Fish Samich" there's the Monk/Mingus moment in “For Crowley" 'followed by the dense moody harmonies of “Waiting...Waiting..." and “Before Fall." Then the joyful, New Orleans groove of “Clybourn ...

124

Performance / Tour

Sojourn Suite - Concert Premiere and CD Release

Sojourn Suite - Concert Premiere and CD Release

Source: Michael Ricci

Bradley Williams Sojourn Suite—premiere concert and CD release March 25th, 2011, 8 p.m., DePaul Concert Hall, 800 W. Belden, Chicago

Pianist Bradley Williams is well-known in Chicago for his jazz work with visiting luminaries Sheila Jordan and Joe Henderson, as well as long associations with Chicago mainstays Von Freeman and Art Hoyle. From his early days in Chicago as musical director at the legendary Gold Star Sardine Bar he's developed a reputation for sensitive accompaniment and creative arranging for vocalists. ...

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Recording

Revenge of the Kissing Bug: Bradley Williams and Petra van Nuis

Revenge of the Kissing Bug: Bradley Williams and Petra van Nuis

Source: All About Jazz

With great excitement we, vocalist Petra van Nuis and pianist/vocalist Bradley Williams, announce the release of our brand-spanking-new CD, Revenge of the Kissing Bug, This recording features our duo work with piano alongside quartet numbers accompanied by two of Chicago's Finest, bassist Daniel DeLorenzo and drummer Michael Schlick. We're particularly pleased to be able to introduce Revenge of the Kissing Bug to you via its companion website, revengeofthekissingbug.com, explaining the dark story of the Kissing Bug and allowing you to ...

"The excellent pianist acquits himself well on his debut CD, shrewdly displaying the many sides of his work. His lush and lyric solo on "The High & the Mighty," his unusually hard swinging version of "Willow Weep for Me" and his thoroughly idiomatic treatment of Horace Silver's "Juicy Lucy" stand out in an album without a weak track." Howard Reich, Chicago Tribune

"...you ignore the fine details--the interplay of light and dark, the unusual angles, the narrative contours--at your risk. Williams never fails to surprise and tickle." - Neil Tesser, Chicago Reader

"Examining classics with keen understanding, he decorates themes in subtly iridescent emotional shades that never include mawkishness." Frank John Hadley, Downbeat Magazine

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

3

21st Century Entertainment
2012

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Plumb Bob

From: 3
By Bradley Williams

Videos

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