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Bradley Joseph

American composer and producer (born 1965) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bradley Joseph

Bradley Joseph is an American composer, arranger, and producer of contemporary instrumental music. His compositions include works for orchestras, quartets, and solo piano pieces. He has been active since 1983, and he has played various instruments in rock bands throughout the Midwest.[citation needed] In 1989, the Greek composer Yanni hired Joseph for his core band after hearing a tape of his original compositions. Joseph was a featured concert keyboard player with Yanni on six major tours,[1] most recently in 2003 for the 60-city Ethnicity tour.

Quick Facts Background information, Born ...
Bradley Joseph
Background information
Born1965 (age 59–60)
Bird Island, Minnesota, United States
OriginWillmar, Minnesota, United States
Genres
Occupations
  • Composer
  • arranger
  • record producer
  • musician
Instrument
  • Keyboards
Years active1983–present
Labels
WebsiteOfficial Website
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He appears in the multi-platinum album and concert film, Live at the Acropolis. Joseph also spent five years as musical director and lead keyboardist for Sheena Easton, including a 1995 performance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.[citation needed]

Joseph is the owner of the Robbins Island Music label.[2] His solo career began when he independently released Hear the Masses, featuring many of his Yanni bandmates. This debut was followed by Rapture, an instrumental album recorded with a 50-piece orchestra for which Joseph wrote and conducted all the scores.[citation needed] It was released on the Narada label and reached the ZMR Airwaves Top 30. A number of subsequent recordings, including Christmas Around the World and One Deep Breath, also held positions on ZMR's Top 100 radio chart, with the most recent being Paint the Sky, which debuted on April 4, 2013.[citation needed] Paint the Sky was nominated for Best Neo-Classical Album at the 10th annual ZMR Music Awards.[3] He has produced numerous CDs, DVDs and piano books. His music is included in multiple various-artist compilation albums, including the 2008 release of The Weather Channel Presents: Smooth Jazz II.[citation needed]

Biography

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Early years

Bradley Joseph was born in 1965 in Bird Island, Minnesota and raised in Willmar, Minnesota,[4] graduating from Willmar Senior High School in 1983.[5] He started playing classical piano at age eight,[2] and played piano for his high school's jazz band and choir.[6] After attending Moorhead State University as a music major, he led some of his own bands around the area that toured Midwest nightclubs. He played the saxophone and guitar in some of these earlier bands but left to concentrate on just the piano/keyboards.[7] Later, he started performing with guitarist Dugan McNeill, whose group was signed to Polygram.[2]

Yanni

In 1989, Joseph recorded his first demo tape and sent it off to Greek composer Yanni, who was looking for someone to replace keyboardist John Tesh.[8]

He composed, arranged, and performed alongside Yanni for more than six years, performing in-concert with a number of notable symphony orchestras, touring throughout the U.S. and abroad.[9] His first show was at the Starplex in Dallas with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra filming a video project. Some of these early tours included the Reflections of Passion, Revolution in Sound, Dare to Dream,[10] Yanni Live, The Symphony Concerts 1993 and 1994 concert tours, and a performance in Germany broadcast throughout Europe seen by 30 to 40 million viewers.[5] Joseph appears on the 1994 multi-platinum album and video, Live at the Acropolis.[8]

In the band, Joseph covered many of the numerous keyboard parts.[7] He assisted in managing the 30 or more synthesizers onstage.[11]

Between tours, Joseph worked in recording studios on music ranging from rock and pop to rhythm and blues and orchestration with numerous artists from RCA, Epic, Warner Brothers, and Polygram Records,[12] in addition to performing in an national keyboard show tour with various musicians.[13] In 2003, he returned for the 60-city Ethnicity tour.[14]

Sheena Easton

Joseph also performed with Sheena Easton for four years as her co-musical director and lead keyboardist.[15] Tour venues with her included Japan, Indonesia, Puerto Rico, and the United States,[2] as well as routine appearances in Las Vegas and Atlantic City.[5] In March 1995, he appeared with her on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno when she performed her new single at the time, "My Cherie".[16]

Solo career

More Core Records

In 1994, between tours, Joseph released his debut album, Hear the Masses, a self-produced, self-published release under the More Core Records label consisting of 10 original compositions.

Narada

Joseph's style attracted the online attention of Narada Productions,[17] a Virgin Records subsidiary, and this resulted in Joseph signing a multi-record deal. The outcome was Rapture, containing piano pieces, quartets, and full orchestral works.[2] It reached ZMR's "Airwaves Top 30" at No. 15 in July 1997.[18] This album was recorded at a number of different studios including Captain and Tennille's and Pachyderm Studio.[7][19] In addition to a core band including Charlie Adams on percussion, Charlie Bisharat on violin, and Steven Trochlil on clarinet, Joseph brought in a 50-piece orchestra.[7]

Robbins Island Music

Joseph started Robbins Island Music in 1998, composing, producing, and distributing his own recordings.[citation needed] Solo Journey was released and consists of eleven soft piano compositions.[20]

Later releases include Christmas Around the World reaching ZMR's Top 100 Radio Playlist;[21] and One Deep Breath also holding a position on ZMR's Top 100 Radio Chart for over six months.[22]

Joseph returned as a featured instrumentalist and wrote his sixth album during Yanni's 2003 Ethnicity world tour.[23][24] The Journey Continues, a sequel to Solo Journey.[25]

Subsequent releases include For the Love of It, Piano Love Songs, and Hymns and Spiritual Songs. On these albums, Joseph arranges piano, orchestra, and soft rhythms to cover melodies such as "I'll Never Fall in Love Again" (Burt Bacharach), "Fields of Gold" (Sting), and "Ave Maria" (Schubert). He has produced numerous CD and DVD projects designed for pets in a Music Pets Love series,[26][27] and also produced a four-CD set of Nature Sounds. His music is used throughout the DVD, Isle Royale Impressions Volume II, containing video footage by Carl TerHaar of scenery and wildlife from the Isle Royale National Park in Michigan.[28]

In April 2013, Joseph released Paint the Sky which debuted at number fifteen on ZMR's Top 100 Radio Chart. It is self-described as "piano instrumentals with a cinematic feel".[29]

Accolades and achievements

Joseph was named one of the "Ten Outstanding Young Minnesotans" (TOYM) of 2004 by the Minnesota Jaycees.[30][31][32] In April 2008 he was presented the "WPS Foundation Arts and Academics Hallmarks of Pride" award for outstanding achievements by an alumnus.[20]

Joseph's music has been heard in regular rotation in the United States and Canada by more than 160 major radio networks including XM and Sirius satellite radio, DMX; in the United Kingdom including RTÉ lyric fm; as well as airwaves in Japan, Spain, China, South-East Asia, Thailand, Germany, Switzerland, and Russia. Airlines such as Aeroméxico, AirTran, Frontier, and JetBlue feature his music in their in-flight music programs. The Weather Channel also utilizes his compositions during the "Local on the 8s" segments, and the song "Friday's Child" is included in their 2008 compilation release, The Weather Channel Presents: Smooth Jazz II.[33]

Paint the Sky (2013) was nominated for Best Neo-Classical Album in the 10th annual ZMR Music Awards.[3]

Composition and musical style

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On composing

In an interview with Indie Journal, Joseph said that when writing music, he prefers to concentrate on the melody first.[7]

Polta reports that he often references the past when he names his songs, and his music is frequently reminiscent of his rural Minnesota roots.[15] "Wind Farmer" was inspired by childhood visits to a relative's farm near Olivia, and his company, Robbins Island Music, is named after a city park in Willmar.[15]

Joseph employs a variety of instruments to compose including many digital synthesizers.[7]

Musical style

Hear the Masses and Rapture offer full orchestrations that combine smooth jazz with contemporary instrumental themes.[25] A review of Rapture from New Age Voice states Joseph "paints romantic pictures in sound with voices and instruments that escalate from quiet, intimate passages to big, energetic movements".[34] In contrast, albums such as Solo Journey and The Journey Continues are considered to be "stripped back and basic".[25] For the 2002 album One Deep Breath, he combines "structured melodic pieces and free-form ambient compositions",[35] which departs from the style of earlier compositions.[36]

Joseph has also produced numerous CDs that include cover arrangements for piano and orchestra. The 2009 release of Suites & Sweets features compositions by Beethoven, Mozart, Bach, and other classical composers.[citation needed]

Paint the Sky

Joseph released Paint the Sky in April 2013 as a self-described as "piano instrumentals with a cinematic feel".[4][29]

In an in-depth analysis of the composition "In Dreams Awake", Bill Binkelman notes that the song bears a strong contemporary classical influence with moments similar to the music of Phillip Glass.[citation needed] Binkleman goes on to say that the song "Into the Big Blue" shares similarities with the works of Aaron Copland with its western rhythm and melodic motifs and the song "Secrets of the Sun" reminiscent of Ray Lynch.[37]

Discography

Studio albums

Credits

See also

Notes

External links

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