Bio Full Biography »

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 bo...