| Postmodern Jukebox | |
| Alias: | PMJ, Scott Bradlee's Postmodern Jukebox |
| Origin: | New York City |
| Years Active: | –present |
| Label: | Mud Hut Digital, Concord Records |
Postmodern Jukebox (PMJ), also known as Scott Bradlee's Postmodern Jukebox, is a rotating musical collective founded by New York based pianist Scott Bradlee in 2011. Postmodern Jukebox is known for reworking popular modern music into different vintage genres, especially early 20th century forms such as swing and jazz. They have toured North America, Europe, and Australia; often simultaneously due to the extensive discography and the numerous artists and performers involved in the project. Postmodern Jukebox has amassed over 1.9 billion YouTube views and 5.8 million YouTube subscribers since its introduction in 2011.[1]
Each week, Postmodern Jukebox releases a new video on YouTube. Although originally most were filmed casually in Bradlee's apartment living room, sets became more elaborate over time. The band has covered songs by artists ranging from Lady Gaga and the Strokes to Katy Perry and the White Stripes. Since their beginnings as a small group of friends making music in a basement in Queens, New York, Postmodern Jukebox has gone on to feature 70 different performers and tour six continents.[2]
Postmodern Jukebox originated when Scott Bradlee began shooting videos with friends from college in his basement apartment in Astoria.[3] This group included bassist Chris Anderson, saxophonist Ben Golder-Novick, harpist Brandee Younger, and vocalist Emma Walker.
Bradlee struggled for years as a jazz musician in New York City before one of his videos ("a medley of '80s songs done ragtime style") became popular in 2009. He received a message on Twitter from author Neil Gaiman. Two years later his video for "A Motown Tribute to Nickelback" included Drue Davis (emcee), Steve Ujfalussy (saxophone, EWI) Adam Kubota (bass), Allan Mednard (drums), and Tim Kubart (tambourine).
With over one million views in its first week, and four million in its first year, Robyn Adele Anderson's cover version of Macklemore & Ryan Lewis' "Thrift Shop" (2012) was Postmodern Jukebox's first viral music video. The song was included on Introducing Postmodern Jukebox (2013) and reached No. 8 on the Billboard magazine jazz album chart. This was followed by her cover of Miley Cyrus' "We Can't Stop" in 2013. The band performed on Good Morning America in September.
In late 2013, Postmodern Jukebox was invited to the New York City offices of Cosmopolitan to film a year-end tribute to 2013, covering the year's hit songs with arrangements from different genres and times. The "Just Another Day at the Office" mashup included Robyn Adele Anderson singing "Blurred Lines", Cristina Gatti singing "Holy Grail", Anderson and the Tee Tones singing "We Can't Stop", Karen Marie singing "Roar", Ashley Stroud singing "Royals", and Andromeda Turre singing "What Does the Fox Say?". The production was completed in a single take, and a companion behind-the-scenes video was also produced.
In 2014, Kate Davis performed a cover version of Meghan Trainor's song "All About That Bass" (2014) in Scott Bradlee's living room after three hours of practice. Davis sang and played double bass; her rendition gathered 8 million views in three months. "I knew the song, probably could have done it on the fly. Maybe that's why it's so funny. I remember thinking it was so funny at the time I was going to crack up, maybe five times." The 1940s arrangement and piano accompaniment is by Bradlee with Dave Tedeschi on drums. The single was a success, catching the attention of Time, Billboard, The Huffington Post, and PBS NewsHour.
BuzzFeed featured a doo-wop cover of "Timber," with Robyn Adele Anderson and the Tee Tones fronting, in February 2014. The group's cover of Radiohead's seminal 1990s hit "Creep," performed by Haley Reinhart, was called a "stunning listen" by the Los Angeles Times in April 2015. As of April 2022, the video had over 105 million views and was their most viewed video.[4]
In 2015, Broadway actress Shoshana Bean became active with the group as a guest artist when Bradlee moved to Los Angeles. Broadway World raved about Bean's performance of Sia's "Chandelier" at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa, California, and Billboard did a feature story on Motown version of Justin Bieber's "Sorry". Bean joined the Postmodern Jukebox 2016 spring European tour at its midway point.
Sara Niemietz performed with the cast in August 2015, covering Talking Heads' "This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)" (1983), PMJ's rendition of "Hey Ya!" (2003) by Outkast, a Dixieland arrangement of Justin Bieber's "Love Yourself" (2015), and a club version of the "Pokémon Theme". Niemietz joined the band's northeastern leg of its 2015 U.S. tour and the entire 2016 European tour. MTV U.K. caught up with the show in London and spotlighted a big band cover version of Elle King's "Ex's & Oh's" (2014) with Niemietz on vocals and Sarah Reich tap dancing.
In early February 2016, Postmodern Jukebox covered David Bowie's song "Heroes" in honor of World Cancer Day with vocals by Nicole Atkins. The song was released to earn money for the Cancer Research Institute. In 2016, Heineken announced a global partnership with Formula One racing, and in September released the "If You Drive, Never Drink" campaign commercial with driver Sir Jackie Stewart (the "Flying Scot") and "Heroes" as background music.[5]
Around the same time, PMJ started Reboxed, consisting of new versions of songs that had already been covered. The first Reboxed song was by Niemietz and the Sole Sisters singing "Bad Romance", which had been sung by Ariana Savalas with Sarah Reich tap dancing. Adweek named Bradlee one of "20 Content Creators Who Are Setting the Bar for Creativity in 2016".[6]
In 2016 they acquired PMJ Manor in Los Angeles.[7] In late May 2018, PMJ surpassed the one billion view mark on YouTube. Bradlee, members of the band, and guests hosted their first live stream event from the PMJ Manor to celebrate.
On June 12, 2018, Scott Bradlee released his first book, a memoir entitled Outside the Jukebox: How I Turned My Vintage Music Obsession into My Dream Gig.[8] The book received positive reviews from Publishers Weekly,[9] The Weekly Standard,[10] and Billboard.[11]
In 2014, PMJ started the first annual #PMJSearch contest to discover musical talent. The month-long competition asks fans to submit videos of themselves performing versions of PMJ songs for a chance to perform on an upcoming official video. Out of the many videos that are submitted each year, the winner is selected by Scott Bradlee. Past winners include Holly Campbell-Smith (2015), Devi Ananda (2016), Olivia Kuper Harris (2017), and Cortnie Frazier (2019) all of whom went on to be featured in PMJ videos, as well as on tour with the band. Harris' feature on "Last Friday Night" caught the attention of the song's original singer, Katy Perry, during an online feature for Glamour.[12]
On February 24, 2016, Postmodern Jukebox opened at the Dubai International Jazz Festival, alongside Sting, Toto, Chris Botti, and David Gray.[13]
The 2016 tours included three continents:
The 2017 tour included concurrent dates in Europe and the US, with two separate "casts" of musicians.[17] [18]
PMJ made its first visit of South America in August 2017, with four dates in Brazil and one in Argentina.
In April 2018, PMJ made their debut in Africa, performing in Tunisia at the Jazz a Carthage Festival[19] and Morocco at the Jazzablanca Festival,[20] marking the sixth continent on which they've performed.
The band has featured the following artists as guest musicians:
Several former American Idol finalists have found success as part of Postmodern Jukebox's ensemble, including Vonzell Solomon (season 4), Blake Lewis (season 6), Melinda Doolittle (season 6), Haley Reinhart (Season 10), Casey Abrams (Season 10), Thia Megia (season 10), DeAndre Brackensick (season 11) and Catie Turner (season 16). Four Season 14 finalists have also performed lead vocals for the group: Joey Cook, Rayvon Owen, Clark Beckham, and JAX. Additionally, vocalists Aubrey Logan, Von Smith, and Brielle Von Hugel are Idol alums who went through the audition process but did not advance to the finals in any season.
Xavier Woods appeared in the cover of "What Is Love", with his trombone "Francesca" and later recorded a video that was released on his channel (UpUpDownDown), in which they cover the SpongeBob SquarePants theme song.[23]
In February 2020, the Rembrandts appeared as part of an evolution of "I'll Be There for You".
The band has featured the following artists as guest vocalists and performers:
| Year | Album | Peak chart positions | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jazz Albums | Top Heatseekers | Top Independent Albums | ||||
| 2013 | Introducing Postmodern Jukebox (EP) | 8 | 31 | — | Billboard Jazz Albums: Peaked at #8 on Sept 12, 2013 [34] [35] | |
| Postmodern Jukebox, Season 2 (EP) | ||||||
| 2014 | Twist is the New Twerk | 4 | 7 | 48 |
| |
| Clubbin' With Grandpa | 4 | — | — | Billboard Jazz Albums: Peaked at #4 on June 07, 2014 | ||
| Saturday Morning Slow Jams | — | — | — | |||
| Historical Misappropriation | 3 | 11 | 43 |
| ||
| A Very Postmodern Christmas | 7 | 22 | 22 | Billboard Jazz Albums: Peaked at #7 on Dec 19, 2014 | ||
| 2015 | Selfies on Kodachrome | 6 | — | — | Billboard Jazz Albums: Peaked at #6 on Jan 31, 2015 | |
| Emoji Antique | 8 | — | — | Billboard Jazz Albums: Peaked at #8 on May 16, 2015 | ||
| Swipe Right For Vintage | 5 | 19 | — | Billboard Jazz Albums: Peaked at #5 on Sept 05, 2015 | ||
| Top Hat On Fleek | 6 | 20 | 20 | Billboard Jazz Albums: Peaked at #6 on Nov 27, 2015 | ||
| 2016 | PMJ And Chill | 10 | — | — | Billboard Jazz Albums: Peaked at #10 on Mar 11, 2016 | |
| Swing the Vote | 11 | — | — | Billboard Jazz Albums: Peaked at #11 on May 6, 2016 | ||
| Squad Goals | 10 | — | — | Billboard Jazz Albums: Peaked at #10 on Aug 5, 2016 | ||
| The Essentials | 2 | 5 | — | 'Billboard Jazz Albums: Peaked at #2 on Sept 2, 2016 Compilation album | ||
| 2017 | 33 Resolutions Per Minute | 8 | — | — | Billboard Jazz Albums: Peaked at #8 on Jan 01, 2017 | |
| Fake Blues | 5 | — | — | Billboard Jazz Albums: Peaked at #5 on Apr 28, 2017 | ||
| New Gramophone, Who Dis? | 16 | — | — | Billboard Jazz Albums: Peaked at #16 on July 21, 2017 | ||
| The New Classics (Recorded Live!) | 5 | 8 | 8 | Billboard Jazz Albums: Peaked at #5 on Jan 15, 2017 | ||
| 2018 | Jazz Me Outside Pt. 1 | — | — | — | ||
| Jazz Me Outside Pt. 2 | 21 | — | — | Billboard Jazz Albums: Peaked at #21 on Apr 6, 2018 | ||
| Learn To Floss in 3 Easy Steps | — | — | — | |||
| Blue Mirror | 15 | — | — | Billboard Jazz Albums: Peaked at #15 on Sept 5, 2018 | ||
| The Essentials II | 10 | — | — | Billboard Jazz Albums: Peaked at #10 on Nov 18, 2018 Compilation album | ||
| 2019 | Sepia Is the New Orange | 15 | — | — | Billboard Jazz Albums: Peaked at #15 on Mar 1, 2019 | |
| Jazz Age Thirst Trap | 19 | — | — | Billboard Jazz Albums: Peaked at #19 on June 28, 2019 | ||
| Throwback Clapback | — | — | — | |||
| 2020 | BACK When They Called It Music. The '90s, Vol. 1 | |||||
| At the Piano | ||||||
| OK Crooner | ||||||
| 2021 | The Essentials III | Compilation album | ||||
| 2022 | OldieFans | |||||
| 2023 | The Fourth Tuning | |||||