Carmen Bradford

At the INNtöne Jazzfestival 2017

Carmen Bradford (born July 19, 1960 in Austin , Texas ) is an American jazz singer and university teacher.

Live and act

Carmen Bradford grew up in Pasadena, California ; her father is the trumpeter Bobby Bradford , her mother the singer Melba Joyce. After studying classical music at Huston-Tillotson College , she began her career as a singer of TV jingles and country music . In 1982 she was given the opportunity to perform with the Count Basie Orchestra ; a year later she brought Basie firmly into the band, to which she belonged until 1990. She was featured on several of the Basie Band's albums under the direction of Frank Foster , such as Long Live the Chief (1986) and with George Benson ( Big Boss Band , 1990) with a duet ( How Do You Keep the Music Playing ).

After she left the Basie Orchestra , she recorded a first album for the Amazing label in 1992 , Finally Yours , accompanist was u. a. Bill Easley . She was involved in Benny Carter's album The Benny Carter Song Book ( Grammy ). Bradford also worked with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra , toured Europe with the David Murray Big Band (2000) and with the Dani Felber Big Band (2013, 2014 and 2015), performed with flutist James Newton with a Program of Ellington and Strayhorn songs on and with the orchestra of Doc Severinsen and the Diva Jazz Orchestra . She also worked with James Brown , Lou Rawls , Willie Nelson , Lena Horne , Tony Bennett , Joe Williams , Nancy Wilson and Herbie Hancock . She is a professor of jazz singing at the University of South Carolina .

Discographic notes

• Finally Yours (Amazing / Evidence, 1992)
• With Respect (Evidence, 1993)
• Home with You (Azica, 2004)
• Thank you, Fos! (Musiques Suisse, 2012)

literature

• Leonard Feather , Ira Gitler The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz. University of Oxford Press, Oxford et al. 1999, ISBN 0-19-507418-1 .

Web links

Commons : Carmen Bradford  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Carmen Bradford at Allmusic (English)
• Carmen Bradford at Discogs (English)
• Biography at Women in Jazz