For those unaware, Will Bradley was a trombonist and bandleader who came to the fore during the swing and big band era of the late 1930s and developed a strand of music during the early 1940’s which took advantage of the then-current popularity of boogie-woogie music.

Using a jazz and R&B-flavored big band style, and often recording as a smaller group, he was aided in this by his featured drummer and singer Ray McKinley and his pianist Freddie Slack, who went on to have hits in his own right.

Not all his recordings were boogie-woogie efforts, and he produced a great deal of stylish swing records, based around his trombone work, many of them featuring vocalists Ray McKinley, Jimmy Valentine, Louise Tobin, Lyn Gardner, Terry Allen and others.

This 46-track 2-CD set entitled Beat Me Daddy: The Singles Collection 1939-47 (out now via Acrobat Records) comprises selected A & B sides from his releases on the Vocalion, Columbia, Joe Davis, Beacon and Signature labels from these years.

It features his US No. 2 hits Beat Me Daddy Eight To The Bar and Scrub Me Mama With A Boogie Beat, plus his other hits Down The Road A Piece, Celery Stalks At Midnight, There I Go, High On A Windy Hill and Cryin’ The Boogie Blue. His was a very distinctive strand of the music of this era, and he was one of the most noted hitmakers in the boogie-woogie genre.

Wilbur Schwichtenberg, born on July 12th, 1912, was a popular American trombonist and bandleader who rose to fame in World War II, at the height of the swing era. After playing trombone in New York for various dance orchestras during the 1930’s, in 1939 he changed his name to Will Bradley and co-founded his own big band with drummer and singer Ray McKinley. Their orchestra became renowned for popularizing African-American boogie-woogie rhythms and incorporating them into hits like Beat Me Daddy, Eight to the Bar and Scrub Me Mama, with a Boogie Beat.

Despite his personal preference for ballads, Bradley’s collaborations with McKinley and pianist Freddie Slack helped his band briefly become known as one of the most distinctive hard-swinging outfits in the country. Following McKinley’s departure in 1942, Bradley attempted to steer the band towards a more traditional swing style but the collective eventually disbanded due to Bradley’s health issues.

After the war, he continued to contribute to the music scene by joining the Tonight Show orchestra and composing some classical pieces before his death on July 15, 1989, three days after his 77th birthday.

Disc 1:
1. Memphis Blues 2. I Thought About You 3. I’m Fit To Be Tied 4. Mean To Me 5. Swingin’ A Dream 6. Hallelujah! 7. I’m Coming Virginia 8. A Ghost Of A Chance 9. Jimtown Blues 10. It’s A Wonderful World 11. Flyin’ Home 12. O Sole Mio 13. After I Say I’m Sorry 14. Rhumboogie 15.Beat Me Daddy Eight To The Bar Pts. 1 & 2 16. Strange Cargo 17. In A Little Spanish Town 18. Don’t Let It Get You Down 19. Celery Stalks At Midnight 20. Down The Road A Piece 21. Rock-A-Bye The Boogie 22. Scrub Me Mama, With A Boogie Beat

Disc 2:
1. There I Go 2. Five O’Clock Whistle 3. High On A Windy Hill 4. Stardust 5. Chicken Gumboogie 6. Bounce Me Brother With A Solid Four 7. It’s Square But It Rocks 8. That’s Her Mason Dixon Line 9. Think Of Me 10. Booglie Wooglie Piggy 11. Love Me A Little Little 12. All That Meat And No Potatoes 13. In The Hall Of The Mountain King 14. I’m Tired Of Waiting For You 15. Call It Anything, It’s Love 16. Basin Street Boogie 17. April In Paris 18. The Three B’s 19. Fry Me A Cookie With A Can Of Lard 20. Cryin’ The Boogie Blues 21. Lightnin’ Boogie 22. Sugar Hill Boogie 23. Turn The Knob On The Left To The Right 24. Bop ‘N’ Boogie

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