Advanced Search
HomeConcerts & EventsGet JazzEDJazzCASTInside JazzSupport JazzVenues & RentalsAbout Us
Screening RoomRadioListen!ScheduleRadio StationsRadio StationsSupport JAZZ RadioPodcasts
Edward R. Bradley (1941-2006)

Wynton Marsalis, The Board of Directors and staff of Jazz at Lincoln Center mourn the passing of our dear friend and beloved board member, Ed Bradley. Ed has been a tireless champion of our organization since 1991, and his love for jazz was transported weekly through our radio program into the homes of thousands of listeners across the country. He was the voice of Jazz at Lincoln Center. His contribution to our organization is without measure, and his gentle smile, keen intelligence and boundless charm and style will be so deeply missed by each of us at Jazz. We extend to his wife, Patricia Blanchet and his entire family our heartfelt sympathy.

"Ed Bradley was a great American, one of our definitive cultural figures, a man of unsurpassed curiosity, intelligence, dignity and heart. We of course are shocked and experiencing that unspeakable grief that always attends the finality of the death of a loved one. We have lost a trusted friend and mentor. Our nation has lost a voice of integrity and wisdom. We love him and miss him and it will always be that way."
-Wynton Marsalis, Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center
"From Alice Tully Hall, It's Jazz at Lincoln Center... I'm Ed Bradley." The words felt right the first time Ed read them. That would have been the rehearsal for our live broadcast and premier of Jazz at Lincoln Center Radio in April, 1994. It was also the premier of Wynton Marsalis' composition "Calling the Indians Out" – later to be renamed "Blood on the Fields."

I'd had a passing acquaintance with Ed Bradley since the mid-seventies in the District of Columbia. I was at work for NPR and he for CBS covering the White House. We both lived on Capitol Hill, not too far from what was still called "the H Street riot corridor" from the events of 1967. Somehow living on the edge of the Hill caught a rebellious spirit that came in with the Carter administration, carried through the DC's proper corridors by Ed's trim, but distinct Afro.

Later I'd get to see another side of the serious newsman at New Orleans' Jazz and Heritage Festival, bobbing and tapping at stageside to Aretha Franklin, and Ray Charles. Then there was the night on the Riverboat President, when the Nevilles took the stage, joined by a fifth beret-topped, tambourine shaking brother, "Teddy Badley." Definitely not Walter Cronkite.

This Philadelphia journalist, steeped in the spirit of Paris, Vietnam and Washington, seasoned in Detroit and New Orleans, brought qualities so right to Jazz at Lincoln Center and our radio program that we couldn't have completely articulated them. Years later public radio listeners would, in a study of 'core values' they expected from our work: "Substance, Curiosity, Credibility, Accuracy, Honesty, Respect for listeners, and Purpose." The listeners also identified qualities of the heart and spirit: "Pleasure inspired by the music, Connection to history, Pride in contribution to American Culture, Humor and Generosity (the music is the star)."

How could our mission and our audience's expectations be better expressed than in those nine words? "This is Jazz at Lincoln Center. I'm Ed Bradley"

We will miss Ed deeply. But I'll hear his joy and spirit in each of our repeat programs, and be inspired by his qualities in every new show we create.

Steve Rathe
Senior producer Jazz at Lincoln Center
• JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER RADIO PRODUCTION PARTNERS
Jazz at Lincoln Center Radio with Wynton Marsalis is produced by Murray Street Productions on behalf of Jazz at Lincoln Center.



• Jazz at Lincoln Center Radio is a winner of the Peabody Award for excellence in radio broadcasting.