Clive Bradley - The Higher Level

by Mrs. Merle Albino-de Coteau - WST Special

Clive Bradley

Mrs. Merle Albino-de Coteau is a retired Director of Culture, in the Ministry of Community Development, Culture and Women's Affairs

Global - “As I mentioned before many people are speaking only about his association with Despers, but according to my brother Aldwin Albino they are forgetting the higher level.

“Bradley was academically sound. So great was he that after being a student at the Gov't Training College and passing with distinction in his subjects he was recalled- this time as a lecturer in Mathematics. He also taught Math at the Catholic Women's Teachers College where I lectured in Music.

“More about his academic prowess.

“My brother always reminisces about his days as a pianist under Choy Aming at the Penthouse (upstairs Salvatori Building). As Aldwin likes to say Choy had a “Stable of Pianists”. Some of them who rotated at that time were Aldwin Albino, Orville Wright, Mervyn de Sousa, Mervyn Williams (deceased) and Bradley (now deceased).

“Aldwin recalls the kind of harmonies that Bradley was using since in 1960, (and Aldwin is a decent pianist himself).  He also speaks about the voicing of these harmonies - how he would use a D and a D# in the same chord; but is where Bradley would put the D#, and Bradley was using extended chords - C E G B D F# but one had to listen to the voicing. It was really remarkable.

“But that is only music. One cannot overlook his great, analytical mind in the academics, particularly Math.

“To speak about the man Bradley, we can write volumes. God certainly blessed him with talents.”

Clive Bradley
Clive Bradley at WST Studios

Merle Albino-de Coteau
Merle Albino-de Coteau 

Mrs. Merle Albino-de Coteau is a retired Director of Culture, in the Ministry of Community Development, Culture and Women's Affairs. She is a daughter of the soil having being born into a musical family in Success Village, Laventille (Republic of Trinidad and Tobago) - Mrs. Albino-de Coteau, a graduate of Mc Gill University, Canada and of the University of the West Indies (UWI) is also the holder of several awards for contribution to music in T & T. She was honoured on the twentieth (20th) anniversary of the National Woman's Action Committee for her contribution to Culture, in particular the Calypso Aft form in February 2004. She is also one of the recipients of a Kwanza Award (2001), a nation award, the Humming Bird Medal (1993), and a Sunshine Awards (1989) at Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), for her contribution to culture, particularly for calypso and steelband activities - Full Bio

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