Interview with Carmen Bradford Atlanta, GA By Dr. Joan Cartwright DrJC: Good afternoon, Carmen. Would you please share with us how you came to music as a child? CB: Good afternoon, Joan. Well, I came to music, I was raised in a home full of music, full of jazz by some incredible musicians. My mother jazz vocalist Melba Joyce and my father jazz trumpeter Bobby Bradforth. Music was played throughout my whole childhood. DrJC: Where are some of the places that you have toured with the Count Basie Orchestra? CB: Oh, my goodness, that question should be where haven't you toured. All of Europe, Southeast Asia, we've just been around the world together. There are just too many cities and too many countries to try and remember them all but there have been many countries. DrJC: You just returned from Singapore.
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CB: Yes, but that was not with the Basie Band. I was performing with the Jazz Association of Singapore. That's a big band. DrJC: I see. How many gigs do you do a year with the Basie Band? CB: I would say 15 or 20. DrJC: Do you have your own charts, or do you use their charts? CB: They don't have charts for singers. The singers that they hire have their own big band charts. Nobody comes to the Basie Band waiting to be given or told what to sing. This is a professional orchestra and you have to come fully loaded with some serious charts. DrJC: Who does your charts? CB: It just depends. I have charts by John Clayton, Thad Jones, Chico Farrell, and, of course, Frank Foster. David Springfield is just exquisite and has just written me a beautiful arrangement of We’ll Love Again that tune made famous by Doris Day from the Hitchcock film The Man That Knew Too Much. It is absolutely gorgeous. I'm so excited about it. And, also, Chris Johnson,
