ABOUT JIM:
Jim Bradas was born and grew up in New York. His father attended Juilliard School of Music and was a music teacher. Jim’s father was a wonderful teacher and inspired Jim to start playing the clarinet in the second grade, saxophone in the third grade, and flute in the seventh grade. He started playing in big bands in the fourth grade - his elementary band director was Bill Barber, who recorded several albums with legendary jazz trumpet player Miles Davis. Jim continued studying clarinet and saxophone through high school and college playing in bands, orchestras and jazz bands. He has studied jazz sax with former Woody Herman jazz tenor player Jerry Coker and New Jersey jazz saxophonist Skip Spratt. Jim returned to his alma mater UAH two years ago as a music major in clarinet performance studying with Dr. Melissa Koprowski although the pandemic put those studies on hold. Jim has enjoyed playing in local orchestras, jazz bands and combos, and pit orchestras for local musical productions.