Outside the Jukebox by Scott Bradlee of PMJ

“the general public really only gets to see the ‘overnight’ part of a success story” This is a story that starts in a way very familiar to readers of The Syncopated Times but ends with a level of success we rarely get to enjoy. The vehicle for that success is adapting ideas as old as recorded music to the platforms of the modern age.  Touring companies with no set cast traveling under a powerful brand name, covering popular songs of the day and making them their own. Ambitious talents rising from supporting role to individual recognition and stardom.  It isn't Vaudeville, it's Postmodern Jukebox. Scott Bradlee initially struggled with his piano lessons as a child until the process of teaching himself "Rhapsody in Blue" grew into a fascination with jazz and ragtime. Otherwise a typical 90s kid with a bit of a rebel streak he would entertain his friends by ragging on songs of the day and even video game themes. Musically gifted, he found himself in a series of bands, went to music school, moved to New York, and by his late 20s found himself playing piano bar gigs, with student debt and a basement apartment in Queens. Bradlee's experiences repeatedly brushed with the creative juncture that would give him success.  At his piano bar show he would take requests from the audience and adapt whatever contemporary song or golden oldie they suggested to jazz. He also set a cam