Tribute to the Legend Clive Bradley
Paying Respect to Clive Bradley at the Funeral Service - Pt 2
December 02, 2005
Winston Scarborough
"My name is Winston Scarborough, 'De Original De Fosto Himself'. On this day the 2nd December 2005, we are sending off an icon. Sir, or Dr. Clive Bradley was one of the greatest legends of all times musically. Both Despers and the Steelband Fraternity are already suffering a great loss of one of the greatest arrangers ever. Clive will be missed for Panorama 2006, and one of the reasons is because the occasion would be festive with all types of songs about our national team, Soca Warriors, and I know Clive would have wanted to do one of those songs.
Even though there are many good arrangers in Trinidad and Tobago, Clive was a man they all feared. Every arranger at Panorama time not only wanted to know what Despers would be playing, but how they were going to sound. His style of music was really different. The types of chords that he used, and the type of counter punches that he used in the melody structure, even the way he assembled and disassembled chords, he was the only person who could have done it the way he used to do it.
I remember talking to Clive Bradley when David Rudder released 'High Mass'. We were at a P.N.M. Conventional Meeting in Lions Civic Center when he heard 'High Mass' and he said to me, "De Fosto if I take 'High Mass' and I raise it to a jep nest, they are going to win the Panorama". Clive was that sure of what he wanted to do with 'High Mass'. He said, "I will take the most infant band and take 'High Mass' in the Savannah and win". So said, so done, because he took Nu Tones with only children. Clive wanted to give that tune to Despers real bad. I do not know what transpired then, but he was assigned to do it for Nu Tones. I know it was a great weight and burden on his heart that it was not Despers. He knew that with a band as large as Despers, what he could have done, how he could have distributed those harmonies with ‘High Mass’. It would have been madness. It was a Panorama to Despers loss but to Nu Tones gain. Through Nu Tones, Despers was playing because that was the band he would have wanted before. So he gave it to Nu Tones thinking about Despers."
Ken 'Professor' Philmore
"My name is Ken 'Professor' Philmore. Without people like Clive Bradley, there wouldn't be people like me.
A great man is gone and that is a great loss to the nation.
In the world of music, a lot of Trinidadians do not understand how great the person was. One of the greatest musicians that ever walked on the grounds of Trinidad is Clive Bradley. It is a very sad day, and I am here at his funeral to pay my respects."
Anthon Prosper
"My name is Anthon Prosper, and my mother and Bradley's mother were sisters. Clive was my second cousin, and his mother is my godmother. Clive taught me in Diego Martin Boys R.C. School.
We really came from a musical family because both Clive and I were into music. He arranged and I played pan with Renegades for about eight years. I also played with Starlift, but I really grew up playing with Merry Tones."
Barbara Jean Patrick
"My name is Barbara Jean Patrick, and I am from Grenada.
On behalf of Grenada Courts New Dimension, we extend our condolences to the family and friends of Clive Bradley and also to the members of Desperadoes. Bradley is gone, but he is not forgotten."
Esmond King
"It is a sad day for Trinidad, or maybe it is a happy day too, because if Clive is gone, maybe he's gone to help others on the journey. Clive was a genius, and as usual Trinidad and Tobago do not recognize a genius, or even understand the things related to doing what is necessary in order to lift them up to the next level so that they would be able to live to ninety or a hundred years old.
In our limited way, even to bring them into this building here (Church) is to go against the traditions of the ancestors. As we go along we find the way and I hope that the ancestors would have received him. He was sent here to do a particular job and I am satisfied that he did it. He gave us something indelible in our minds, and it will go into the universe forever."
Karen Codrington
"My name is Karen Codrington. I saw Bradley last week Wednesday, and I asked him why he was limping. His response was, "You want to come and show me how to limp?" (laughter).
I didn't know I was talking to a dying man, because it was Wednesday I spoke to him and he died on the Saturday. I couldn’t believe it when I heard the news about his death. His music was great. Right now my husband Cary is following in his footsteps."
Hudson Greig
"My name is Hudson Greig, and I knew Bradley for many years. He did music for my band 'Boys Town' which won the first music festival. It is a great loss to the nation. His music was something out of this world."
Austin Lyons aka 'Super Blue'
"My name is Austin Lyons, also known as 'Super Blue'. Words cannot describe who Clive Bradley was and the work he did musically. He was a professor, a math teacher, an arranger and a cultural ambassador…he was an icon.
If I could elaborate on it a bit, I would say he was a Quincy Jones. Clive taught me certain things musically at a time in my life, and I still marvel about the things I learned from him to this day."
Andy Johnson
"My name is Andy Johnson. I have said on many occasions that Clive Bradley was an all around musician and an arranger. Apart from that, he was a very well respected math teacher. A lot of people only knew him as a steelband arranger, but he made a lot of contributions in the music industry.
Even though there were people before him, Clive was a unique individual, in a class by himself with a lot of respect. I think that people should acknowledge the demons that he had to deal with. I am not afraid to talk about these things when we are talking about great people. But he was in the company of a lot of great people and other individuals like that."
FUNERAL SERVICES
Clive Bradley's body was at Desperadoes Pan Yard from 8:00 am to 10:00 am on Friday 2nd December 2005. Funeral Services for Clive Bradley was held at 10:00 am on Friday 2nd December, 2005 at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Independence Square Port of Spain thence to the Diego Martin Cemetery for burial.
Moving send-off for pan icon Bradley
Funeral Services and Tribute to Clive Bradley Album at:
www.trinbagopan.com/gallery/Tribute-to-Bradley
- Tribute to the Legend Clive Bradley - 27th Nov. 2005
- Tribute to the Legend Clive Bradley - 28th Nov. 2005
- Tribute to the Legend Clive Bradley - 30th Nov. 2005
- Tribute to the Legend Clive Bradley - 02nd Dec. 2005 - Pt 1
- Tribute to the Legend Clive Bradley - 02nd Dec. 2005 - Pt 2
Visit Desperadoes Steelband Album at:
www.trinbagopan.com/gallery/Desperadoes-Steelband
Tribute to Bradley Homepage | Trinbago Pan Homepage
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