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Will Bradley was a soft-spoken trombonist who got famous for a few years by teaming up with
Ray McKinley and forming a big band that spearheaded the boogie-woogie craze of the late '30s and early '40s.
McKinley was more suited to the boogie than
Bradley, who preferred sweet ballads and easygoing swing. Nevertheless, he soon found himself closely associated with song titles like "Beat Me, Daddy, Eight to the Bar," "Scrub Me, Mama, with a Boogie Beat," "Bounce Me, Brother, with a Solid Four," and "Fry Me, Cookie, with a Can of Lard." For
Bradley, a man with classical and 20th century chamber ambitions and whose personal hero was Viennese composer
Alban Berg, this was hardly the path he would have preferred. A fine trombonist whose polished tone sounded a bit like that of
Tommy Dorsey,
Will Bradley was greatly admired and respected by
Glenn Miller, who expressed the opinion that
Bradley was technically far ahead of his peers, including both
Miller and
Dorsey.
Wilbur Schwichtenberg was born in Newton, NJ, on July 12, 1912, and raised a few miles away in the town of Washington. After moving to New York in 1928 he performed with dance bands such as Milt Shaw's Detroiters and
Red Nichols & His Five Pennies. From 1931-1934 he also worked at the CBS studios, played in the
Ray Noble orchestra from 1935-1936, and then went back to steady work but relative anonymity as a studio instrumentalist until forming a big band in 1939 at the urging of booking agent Willard Alexander, who seems to have thought he could offset
Schwichtenberg's persona by setting him up as co-leader with Texas-born swing drummer and wise guy
McKinley, who installed
Davey Tough as his own replacement with
Jimmy Dorsey in order to link up with
Bradley.
McKinley, whose talents included singing snappy lyrics from behind the hi-hat snare and tom-toms, felt that designating himself as leader would make hotel managers squeamish as they envisioned paying patrons unable to relax and keep the waiters busy. Better to have the handsome, well-dressed trombonist fronting the orchestra, and in order to facilitate that development his name was boiled down to
Will Bradley. The band included pianist
Freddie Slack (one of
McKinley's bandmates from
Jimmy Dorsey days, later to be replaced by
Billy Maxted); tenor saxophonists
Nick Caiazza,
Arthur Rollini,
John Van Eps, and
Peanuts Hucko (famous later in life for his marvelous clarinet work); and trumpeters
Lee Castle and
Pete Candoli.
Vocals were by
Carlotta Dale, Phyllis Myles,
Lynn Gardner, Terry Allen, Larry Southern, Jimmy Valentine, guitarist
Steve Jordan, or
Ray McKinley, who excelled at catchy numbers like "Old Doc Yak," "Call Me a Taxi," "Scramble Two," "Let's Have Another One," "I Get a Kick Outa Corn," "Down the Road a Piece," the aforementioned monster hit "Beat Me Daddy" and further spinoffs like "Rhumboogie," "Rock-A-Bye the Boogie," and "Booglie Wooglie Piggie," after which many might have preferred the attractive instrumental "Celery Stalks at Midnight." The band (whose theme song was "Strange Cargo") swung proficiently and used a
Fletcher Henderson arrangement of "Flyin' Home" in 1940 with satisfying results.
Unfortunately, the gap between what
Bradley and
McKinley wanted was widening, and in 1942 the drummer left to form his own band.
Bradley completely reorganized his orchestra and hired in a couple of neophytes -- trumpeter
Shorty Rogers and a percussionist by the name of
Shelly Manne. Then one day when they were performing in Detroit the draft board nailed six bandmembers at once, mostly brass players.
Bradley canceled the rest of his tour and threw in the towel. As the years passed he liked to take out the trombone and play familiar melodies for the people, but much of his time was spent composing symphonies and chamber works, cutting gem stones, and becoming a silversmith, all pastimes well suited to his personality and temperament.
Will Bradley passed away in Flemington, NJ, on July 15, 1989. His son Bill Bradley, Jr. was a bop drummer who worked with guitarist
Johnny Smith, pianist
George Wallington, clarinetist
Tony Scott, and trombonist
Kai Winding. He recorded with
Woody Herman in 1956. ~ arwulf arwulf