Bradley's

[Michael Weiss]

For a Downbeat article about Bradley's a few months ago I compiled a list of my gigs there and thought it might be interesting to see who were among the musicians working there at that time:

1988

July 4-9 with George Coleman, Bob Cranshaw

October 9, 16 with Ted Curson, Peter Washington

December 4 with Ricky Ford, Peter Washington

1989

March 13-18 MW Trio with Peter Washington, Kenny Washington

June 25 with Junior Cook, Peter Washington, George Fludas

July 17-22 MW Trio with Dennis Irwin, Kenny Washington

September 3 with Frank Wess, Peter Washington

November 21 with George Coleman, Bob Cranshaw

December 17 with Frank Wess, Peter Washington, George Fludas

1990

January 29-February 3 MW Trio with Peter Washington, Kenny Washington

March 25 with Gary Bartz, Peter Washington

July 9-14 MW Trio with Dennis Irwin, Kenny Washington

September 16 MW Trio with Peter Washington, Lewis Nash

November 4 with Buddy Montgomery (on vibes), Peter Washington

November 18 with George Coleman, Dennis Irwin

December 2 with Frank Wess, Ray Drummond

1991

January 21-26 MW Trio with James Genus, Lewis Nash

July 14 MW Quartet with Peter Bernstein, Essiet Essiet, Andy Watson

September 2-7 MW Trio with Dennis Irwin, Lewis Nash

1992

May 31 with Tom Harrell, Dennis Irwin, Al Harewood

July 6-11 MW Trio with John Webber, Al Harewood

October 4 with Tom Harrell, John Webber, Brian Grice

October 26-31 with Marcus Belgrave, Peter Washington, (Detroit drummer)

Edited December 13, 2008 by Michael Weiss

[sheldonm]

....not a bad group of guys....those were the days, indeed!

Mark~

[catesta]

Nice!

[Tom Storer]

Wow. Those are some memories!

I grew up in White Plains, a commuter ride away from Manhattan. Once I was old enough to pass for drinking age, I would go into Manhattan and hit the clubs whenever I had saved enough pennies, and Bradley's was one of my stops. In those days, Bradley's was strictly solo piano or piano/bass duos. Only later did they allow horns and drums. I recall Jimmy Rowles and Sam Jones, Hank Jones and Red Mitchell, often with people like George Coleman or Dexter Gordon standing near me at the bar...

Nostalgia's not what it used to be!

[Soul Stream]

What was Junior Cook like...? To play with, and also personally? Thanks for sharing any memories...

[Chuck Nessa]

Yeah, it was a piano/bass bar when I frequented the place in the '70s. Heard Al Haig, Duke Jordan, Randy Weston, Jaki Byard, George Cables, Jimmy Rowles etc.

Generally stopped by Happy Tunes beforehand to chat with Fred Norsworthy and buy some records.

[Morganized]

Yeah, it was a piano/bass bar when I frequented the place in the '70s. Heard Al Haig, Duke Jordan, Randy Weston, Jaki Byard, George Cables, Jimmy Rowles etc.

Generally stopped by Happy Tunes beforehand to chat with Fred Norsworthy and buy some records.

Whew! That's some memories...Add Herbie Nichols,McCoy and Hancock and that's about all of my favorites....none of which I have heard live. Go Chuck!

I would be interested to know your opinion of who you felt put on the best show in that setting? I have a friend who speaks quite fondly of Bradley's.

[Larry Kart]

Yeah, it was a piano/bass bar when I frequented the place in the '70s. Heard Al Haig, Duke Jordan, Randy Weston, Jaki Byard, George Cables, Jimmy Rowles etc.

Generally stopped by Happy Tunes beforehand to chat with Fred Norsworthy and buy some records.

Whew! That's some memories...Add Herbie Nichols,McCoy and Hancock and that's about all of my favorites....none of which I have heard live. Go Chuck!

I would be interested to know your opinion of who you felt put on the best show in that setting? I have a friend who speaks quite fondly of Bradley's.

I was there once or twice and recall that the level of conversation on those occasions was incredibly high. In particular, I recall sitting one table away from John Hicks and hardly being able to hear a note he was playing, let alone the bassist, because the people at the table in between were almost yelling at each other in an attempt to be heard above the general din. I said something about this to Hicks between sets and don't remember exactly what he then said, except that it was the verbal equivalent of shaking his head sideways as in, "I know, I know."

[Michael Weiss]

What was Junior Cook like...? To play with, and also personally? Thanks for sharing any memories...

I posted a couple of comments on the Junior Cook thread:

#32 and #38

[robviti]

on my only visit to bradley's, i got to see gary bartz and kenny barron in a quartet. in addition to the great music, i got to talk to the two of them at length between sets. i remember the subject of wynton m. coming up, prompting one of them to say, "i wish he'd just shut up and play his horn."

[Peter Friedman]

I was there about 4 times. Saw Jimmy Rowles one evening, Kenny Barron another time, and Tommy Flanagan a couple of times. It could be noisey on a busy night, so it was very helpful to sit as close to the piano as possible.

[Chuck Nessa]

I was there about 4 times. Saw Jimmy Rowles one evening, Kenny Barron another time, and Tommy Flanagan a couple of times. It could be noisey on a busy night, so it was very helpful to sit as close to the piano as possible.

One night when I was there the next table was occupied by Sue and Charles Mingus. They were eating dinner. On another night I was with Michael Cuscuna, Maxine Gregg, Shirley Seltser (sp?) and Dexter Gordon. I'm sure all the conversations messed with the music.

[ValerieB]

One night when I was there the next table was occupied by Sue and Charles Mingus. They were eating dinner. On another night I was with Michael Cuscuna, Maxine Gregg, Shirley Seltser (sp?) and Dexter Gordon. I'm sure all the conversations messed with the music.

as in maxine gregg/maxine shaw/maxine gordon!!

[Chuck Nessa]

One night when I was there the next table was occupied by Sue and Charles Mingus. They were eating dinner. On another night I was with Michael Cuscuna, Maxine Gregg, Shirley Seltser (sp?) and Dexter Gordon. I'm sure all the conversations messed with the music.

as in maxine gregg/maxine shaw/maxine gordon!!

Yup.

[Larry Kart]

Spent an interesting afternoon-evening with Dexter once at the time '"Round Midnight" came out -- among other things, he was full of shrewd, beautifully put views on other tenor players -- but only gradually did it became clear that the main (though I hope not the only) reason he wanted me to stick around was that my presence and our conversation was keeping a seething Maxine G. from tearing into him about something or other. This was in a hotel suite in Chicago, and she was stomping around in the bedroom, periodically opening the door to see if the path to Dexter was clear and then slamming the door when she saw it was not. I sure wouldn't have wanted to be on her bad side. Little Red, indeed.

[Peter Friedman]

One of the times I was in Bradley's I was fortunate to sit at a table with Barry Harris, Tommy Flanagan and Sadik Hakim. Needless to say it was a memorable evening for me.

[Chuck Nessa]

One of the times I was in Bradley's I was fortunate to sit at a table with Barry Harris, Tommy Flanagan and Sadik Hakim. Needless to say it was a memorable evening for me.

Why?

[ValerieB]

Spent an interesting afternoon-evening with Dexter once at the time '"Round Midnight" came out -- among other things, he was full of shrewd, beautifully put views on other tenor players -- but only gradually did it became clear that the main (though I hope not the only) reason he wanted me to stick around was that my presence and our conversation was keeping a seething Maxine G. from tearing into him about something or other. This was in a hotel suite in Chicago, and she was stomping around in the bedroom, periodically opening the door to see if the path to Dexter was clear and then slamming the door when she saw it was not. I sure wouldn't have wanted to be on her bad side. Little Red, indeed.

and do you really think that he didn't give her plenty of reasons to be stomping around?!?! i cannot imagine living with someone like him, from everything i've heard anyway. and, believe me, i am a total fan of his talent.

[marcello]

Maxine Gregg - Gordon was and is a formidable and capable woman.

Here a photo of Maxine Gregg & Woody Shaw

[Larry Kart]

and do you really think that he didn't give her plenty of reasons to be stomping around?!?! i cannot imagine living with someone like him, from everything i've heard anyway. and, believe me, i am a total fan of his talent.

I'm sure he did give her plenty of reasons. I'm just saying that, based on that one encounter, her ability to dramatize her anger, however justified that anger might have been, seemed to me to be world class.

[marcello]

Served her well in the jazz management game, didn't it?

By the way, I miss Bradleys for the high quality music and the low key hang.

[AllenLowe]

Bradley's was the first jazz club I ever went to - Jaki Byard was the Sunday guy there in the middle 1970s - one night he was playing and Monk came in with Mingus! I almost fell over - Jaki started playing Well You Needn't and introduced Monk; during the whole set, as Jaki played, Monk came over and kept leaning over and whispering in his ear, and Jaki kept cracking up - Mingus sat down and ate a large steak.

It was at Bradley's that I got to know Barry Harris very well, as he was the Sunday guy after Jaki, I believe. Al Haig used to pop in, and we had become friends; he told me how Bradley didn't like him because Haig went out with Bradley's wife for a while (before she was his wife) - Leroy Williams used to come and play drums sometimes with Barry and the bassist Hal Dotson (not sure what happened to him - he wasn't very good) - a few celebs used to drop in; saw Alan Garfield a few times. Dick Katz lived down the street and used to come in; also, it was there that I met Nica, in whose house Barry (and Monk) lived-

good club; Desmond left Bradley his baby grand in his will, so that improved things. I believe that back in the 1970s there was a $3.50 minimum. I used to count my pennies and order exacly that, but paid the waitress a few extra bucks so she didn't feel stiffed.

Also saw Tommy Flanagan there more than a few times, and Ray Bryant (all in the 1970s) -

Edited April 27, 2007 by AllenLowe

[ValerieB]

Maxine Gregg - Gordon was and is a formidable and capable woman.

Here a photo of Maxine Gregg & Woody Shaw

amen to that, marcello. as far as i know, she is teaching and still studying. working on yet another degree! (Ph.D. Candidate, History (African Diaspora), New York University

Senior Interviewer and Jazz Researcher, Bronx African American History Project,

Fordham University)

i believe her son, woody, is also working on a second masters degree. she continues to be an amazing woman.

Edited April 27, 2007 by ValerieB

[rwgregg]

Maxine Gregg - Gordon was and is a formidable and capable woman.

Here a photo of Maxine Gregg & Woody Shaw

Anyone please have Maxine drop me an email. I am her nephew (she was formerly married to my uncle Jack Gregg of Compost fame)

Please?

robertgrgg@yahoo.com

[marcello]

email sent