Another year has passed...
Happy Birthday to the Master! The late Clive Bradley
Global - November 4, 2011 would have been master arranger, Clive Bradley’s 75th birthday.
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With the spirit of a gypsy and the discipline of an Olympic sprinter, Clive Bradley has created some of the most beautiful music this side of heaven. Always thoughtful, Bradley approaches his craft in a meticulous yet carefree manner. It is not unusual for him to spend hours voicing a single chord, while at other times, he seems to go on instinct. His knowledge of harmony, form, rhythm and counterpoint is legendary. However, it’s his sense of “bacchanal” that makes Bradley special. The uncanny ability to be both sophisticated and vulgar sets him apart from the rest. Whether you’re a professional musician, a Brooklyn teen or an elder from Laventille, Bradley speaks your language.
Bradley has enriched the lives of everyone who has ever heard his music. From his Panorama winning arrangements of “Rebecca”, “Pan In Harmony”, and “High Mas” to “Pan In Danger”, “Party Tonight” and “Sailing” (the ones that got away) to those little gems: “Sugar For Pan”, “Calypso Coup” and “Panama”, Bradley has created a body of work that will live on.
Colorful? Yes, he is. Restless? That too, but a musical genius for sure!
...Panist Garvin Blake
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Replies
It's truly a shame that Clive is gone, he was intelligent and knew how to have a good laugh, which is important in life.
Every year when he came up from Trinidad to New York, I would seek him out on Woodruff Avenue to get help for the Church Steel Band at that time. So much can be said about his influence on that band in the early stages of me directing it...
years later he wrote notes for me on how to voice a steel orchestra and then out of the blue, he wrote a song for me to use with the steel band called, "Three Cheers for Jesus". When he gave me the song, I realized it was written in 3/4 timing and I said "oh man it's in 3/4", he didn't realize we can use upbeat music in the church, so he took back the music and offered to re-do the score in 4/4 timing. Unfortunately, I never saw that green book again and it's my biggest regret that I didn't keep the score in my possession because now I know how to convert the music myself. Clive bestowed on me the responsibility of writing the lyrics for the song, which already had some lyrics in it, but the music is lost...
Life can be a strange thing at times, and some things are just not meant to be, so you have to move on.
Clive may you, rest in peace, "Three Cheers for Jesus!"
GP
Because of his LOVE and KNOWLEDGE for and of MUSIC , Bradley was able to express himself usings the steel pans to the extreem. I always maintain most persons appreciate Bradley's music after Panorama, when they can sit and really listen and enjoy the presentations.
My humble suggestion, that a compilation , 'THE BEST OF BRADLEY' be done and be available to all pan music lovers at a cost.
clive will always be in my memory - clive
the great musician and the man who was grossly misunderstood
i knew clive since the late 60s and he will always be remembered
as usual in our tnt
we really dont honour our heroes until death'
despers will never be the same - no matter who arranges
bugs
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