Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox Takes Today’s Classics Back in Time October 30 at the Southern Theatre
Posted: September 19, 2017
Founded by pianist and arranger Scott Bradlee in 2009, Postmodern Jukebox reimagines contemporary pop, rock, and R&B hits in the style of various yesteryears—from swing to doowop to ragtime to Motown—or as Bradlee himself puts it, “pop music in a time machine.” The band parlayed a series of YouTube videos shot in Bradlee’s Queens living room into massive success, accruing more than 450 million YouTube views and more than 2 million subscribers, an appearance on Good Morning America, and performances at packed houses across the globe.
CAPA presents Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox at the Southern Theatre (21 E. Main St.) on Monday, October 30, at 7:30 pm. Tickets are $38.50-$68.50 at the CAPA Ticket Center (39 E. State St.), all Ticketmaster outlets, and www.ticketmaster.com. To purchase tickets by phone, please call (614) 469-0939 or (800) 745-3000.
Bradlee conceived Postmodern Jukebox as a tonic for the auto-tuned vocals and programmed beats that populate today’s radio soundscape. Postmodern Jukebox combines a genuine appreciation for the melodies and songcraft of these recent hits with a passion for talented musicians playing real instruments. “I just wanted to make music in the classic styles of ragtime, blues, swing, doo-wop, and Motown that I loved as a kid,” Bradlee writes. “Breathtaking vocal performances, raucous horn solos, infectious dance rhythms, and nostalgic melodies all captured the way music was recorded in the Golden Age of the record industry—with everyone together, in the same room.”
In the early days, that room was in the rather cramped confines of Bradlee’s small apartment in Queens, NY, at a time when he was one of countless struggling musicians in the city. The backdrop has grown along with the ensemble’s success, but the spirit remains the same—a collective of musicians dedicated to the timelessness of music, performing songs vibrantly and without a trace of irony. And the media has taken notice. Entertainment Weekly wrote, “Scott Bradlee’s group is known for retro-fying modern hit songs into viral success,” while Yahoo! Music added, “if you’ve been on YouTube in the last couple of years, then you’re familiar with the everything-new-is-old-again brilliance of the viral phenomenon known as Postmodern Jukebox.”