Mike Bradley

I edited my profile with Thomas Myspace Editor V4.4 (www.strikefile.com/myspace)Mike Bradley has toured throughout the Northeast fronting fusion/jam bands Dr. Zeus, The Thang and the Mike Bradley Project. He most recently has played with The Matt Zeiner Band. Bradley has played with, or opened for: Steve Vai, Mike Kenneally, Melvin Sparks, John Scofield, Maceo Parker, Derek Trucks Band, Disco Biscuits, Johnny Winter, Dickey Betts, Roomful of Blues and more. He studied with: Daniel Salazar Jr., Jamie Sherwood, David Stoltz, Frank Varela and Frank Zappa sideman Mike Keneally. He has won Best New Band and Best Fusion (Dr. Zeus) and been nominated for Best Guitarist in the Hartford Advocate Grand Band Slam Reader's Poll. The Thang's debut CD "Groovejazz Volume 1" was featured in Relix Magazine. Stay tuned to myspace for show dates and news!From the Hartford Advocate:Mike Bradley had one simple goal in mind when he put together the Mike Bradley Project -- he wanted put together a "supergroup" of some of the area's top jam and fusion musicians in order to see what musical sparks would fly when all of these players were put in the same room. Judging from their performance at Sully's Pub last Friday, Bradley has succeeded. Come to think of it, putting all these people together could have spelled disaster, in the "too many cooks spoil the soup" way. Supergroups, both national and local, don't usually have the best track record for putting out quality music. But the Mike Bradley Project has sidestepped the whole supergroup quandary and produced some excellent music together.The band -- which along with Bradley consists of keyboardist Matt Zeiner (Dickey Betts), bassist Craig Garfinkel (Mystery Feet), drummer Geoff Brown (Paranoise) and saxophone player Chip Fenney (Adios Pantalones, the Michael Cleary Band) -- played a short and very sweet set of instrumentals from their debut CD. While each musician shined when given the opportunity to solo, Bradley stole the show with his acrobatic and passionate string bending, at times coming off like a younger version of Jeff Beck. Bradley described his playing in the band as being influenced by Beck. The connection to the veteran guitarist was strengthened when the band closed with an ace cover of Beck's "Freeway Jam," where Bradley and special guest Michael Cleary traded tasty licks to great effect.Of the band's original tunes, the slow-burning "Serena" stood out, along with "Rolling" which featured an extended jam where each member of the band got a chance to strut their stuff. "Chopper" featured more of the dual guitar magic from Bradley and Cleary. The MBP avoided the supergroup trap and delivered a nice set of expert musicianship and guitar heroics.by Thomas Pizzola, The Hartford Advocate - July 22, 2004