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Scott Bradlee

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This article is about the musician. For other people, see Scott Bradley.

Scott Bradlee
Bradlee in Cologne, Germany on March 13, 2015
Bradlee in Cologne, Germany on March 13, 2015
Background information
Born (1981-09-19) September 19, 1981 (age 42)
Long Island, New York
GenresJazz, ragtime, swing
Occupation(s)Musician, pianist, arranger
Instrument(s)Piano, keyboards, guitar, bass, vocals

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 (PMJ) — an ever-evolving, revolving collective of performers playing popular music in period styles.

Biography

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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 June 2020, this video remained among the five most popular on Bradlee's YouTube channel with over 28.6 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 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.

In early February 2016, Bradlee and Postmodern Jukebox covered the late David Bowie’s classic song "Heroes" in honor of World Cancer Day – featuring vocals by Nicole Atkins. The track became one of his most popular arrangements to date and was sold on iTunes to earn money for the Cancer Research Institute.[18] In 2016, Heineken announced their global partnership with Formula One racing management and in September released its first "If You Drive, Never Drink" campaign commercial featuring Sir Jackie Stewart (the "Flying Scot”) which featured Bradlee's cover of “Heroes” as the soundtrack.[19][20]

In 2016, Adweek featured Bradlee as one of "20 Content Creators Who Are Setting the Bar for Creativity in 2016."[21]

On June 12, 2018, Scott Bradlee released his first book, a memoir entitled Outside The Jukebox: How I Turned My Vintage Music Obsession Into My Dream Gig (Hachette Books[22]). The book garnered rave reviews from artists such as Kristin Chenoweth and Mick Fleetwood, as well as features from Publishers Weekly,[23] The Weekly Standard,[24] and Billboard.[25] Scott performed a series of special intimate Book Release Parties during the book's release week in Los Angeles, Washington D.C., New York, and his hometown of Flemington, NJ.

Postmodern Jukebox

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Main article: Postmodern Jukebox
Postmodern Jukebox
Ariana Savalas and Sarah Reich perform "Bad Romance" at The Regency Ballroom
Background information
OriginNew York City, New York
GenresJazz, ragtime, swing
Years active2011 (2011)-present
MembersSee list
WebsitePostmodern Jukebox

Bradlee's most notable work to date has been with the collective he created - Postmodern Jukebox. He posts weekly covers of recent pop songs with jazz or other genre variations. As of May 2023, the Postmodern Jukebox YouTube channel has over 5.95 million subscribers and has surpassed 1.9 billion views.

Each week, Postmodern Jukebox puts out a new video on YouTube, most of which are filmed casually in Bradlee's living room. The band has covered songs by artists ranging from Lady Gaga and The Strokes to Katy Perry and the White Stripes. Since their beginnings as a small group of friends making music in a basement in Queens, New York, Postmodern Jukebox has gone on to feature 70 different performers and tour six continents.[26]

Discography

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Albums

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Scott Bradlee [27]
Year Album Peak chart positions Notes
Jazz Albums Top Heatseekers Top Independent Albums
2012 Mashups by Candlelight — — —
2013 A Motown Tribute to Nickelback — — —
Mashups by Candlelight, Vol. 2 — — —
Introducing Postmodern Jukebox (EP) 8 31 —
2014 Twist Is the New Twerk 4 7 48
Clubbin' with Grandpa 4 — —
Saturday Morning Slow Jams — — —
Historical Misappropriation 3 7 43 #20 on Billboard Jazz Albums: Year End 2015.[28]
A Very Postmodern Christmas 7 22 —
2015 Selfies on Kodachrome 6 — —
Emoji Antique 8 — —
Swipe Right for Vintage 5 19 —
Top Hat on Fleek 6 20 —
2016 PMJ and Chill — — —
Swing the Vote! — — —
PMJ Is for Lovers (The Love Song Collection) — — —
Squad Goals — — —
2017 33 Resolutions Per Minute — — —
Fake Blues — — —
2020 Postmodern Jukebox at the Piano — — —

References

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  1. ^ Scott Bradlee (January 30, 2014). "well my birthday is 9/19/81- so that's a start!". Scott Bradlee's Twitter feed. Archived from the original on March 4, 2014. Retrieved August 15, 2014.
  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 Archived July 14, 2015, at the Wayback Machine, 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. Retrieved January 16, 2014.
  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 November 8, 2014. Retrieved January 16, 2014.
  7. ^ a b "Biography: Scott Bradlee & Postmodern Jukebox". kennedy-center.org. The Kennedy Center. Archived from the original on August 21, 2015. Retrieved August 20, 2015.
  8. ^ "A Vintage Filter on Today's Top 40". NPR. Archived from the original on February 22, 2014. Retrieved January 16, 2014.
  9. ^ "Watch: Scott Bradlee Drops Genre-Bending Cover of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen"". Fuse. Archived from the original on April 20, 2014. Retrieved January 17, 2014.
  10. ^ Ingber, David (December 20, 2013). "CONVERSATION STARTERS The Most Unbelievable 2013 Pop Music Re-Mix You'll Hear". Cosmopolitan magazine. Archived from the original on August 15, 2014. Retrieved January 16, 2014.
  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. Archived from the original on February 22, 2014. Retrieved January 16, 2014.
  13. ^ Bradlee, Scott. "My Music in Bioshock Infinite". Postmodern Jukebox. Archived from the original on August 21, 2014. Retrieved August 21, 2014.
  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 January 6, 2015.
  17. ^ Mark Deming. "Scott Bradlee's Postmodern Jukebox: Biography". AllMusic. p. Biography. Retrieved February 10, 2016.
  18. ^ "Nicole Atkins & Postmodern Jukebox Honor David Bowie, World Cancer Day With 'Heroes' Cover: Watch". Billboard. Retrieved June 21, 2017.
  19. ^ "Heineken When you drive, never drink Commercial Song by Postmodern Jukebox". tvadvertsongs.com. Retrieved June 21, 2017.
  20. ^ Heineken NL (September 2, 2016), Heineken presents - Jackie Stewart in: When You Drive, Never Drink., retrieved June 21, 2017
  21. ^ "20 Content Creators Who Are Setting the Bar for Creativity in 2016". Retrieved June 21, 2017.
  22. ^ Bradlee, Scott (2018). Outside The Jukebox: How I Turned My Vintage Music Obsession Into My Dream Gig. Hachette Books. ISBN 978-0-316-41573-6.
  23. ^ "Publishers Weekly". June 12, 2018.
  24. ^ "The Weekly Standard". June 15, 2018.
  25. ^ "Billboard". Billboard.
  26. ^ "Vintage sounds, modern hits: Scott Bradlee's Postmodern Jukebox plays Aspen | AspenTimes.com". www.aspentimes.com. Retrieved June 21, 2017.
  27. ^ "Awards: Scott Bradlee". AllMusic. Retrieved April 17, 2016.
  28. ^ "Jazz Albums: Year End 2015". Billboard. Archived from the original on April 17, 2016. Retrieved April 17, 2016.
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