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Brad Clements
In his 25-plus years as a professional musician, Brad Clements and his trumpet have traveled the globe, from South America, to Europe, to Japan. Starting in 1999, he spent 14 years performing and recording with D.C.’s legendary “Godfather of Go-Go,”
About Me
In his 25-plus years as a professional musician, Brad Clements and his trumpet have traveled
the globe, from South America, to Europe, to Japan. Starting in 1999, he spent 14 years
performing and recording with D.C.’s legendary “Godfather of Go-Go,” Chuck Brown until
Brown’s death in 2012. In 2003 he toured Europe with the Thievery Corporation, an eclectic
world music group that arose from D.C.’s Eighteenth Street Lounge. In 2011, he again toured
South America with the group, and he has played on several of their recordings on the
Eighteenth Street Lounge Music label. With the Thievery Corporation, Clements performed on
Conan O’Brien’s The Late Show. Most recently, Clements has been performing with the Chuck
Brown band, which features former members of Chuck Brown’s final band. He has an
extensive discography of recordings on which he has performed.
Clements has also produced two of his own albums on the Lundy’s Lounge Music label, For
the Love of You (2002) and Liquid Lounge (2005). Writing in Soul Express (online), Barry
Towler compares Clements to well-known trumpet stalwarts Herb Alpert (of the Tijuana
Brass), Pharez Whitted, and Rick Braun, calling the tunes on the album “gritty [and] funky,”
with appeal to fans of jazz fusion. The major artists with whom he has performed besides
those mentioned above include “The Purple One” Prince (2011), George Duke, Eric Benet,
Lalah Hathaway, Ledisi. Boney James, and The Four Kings of Rhythm & Blues (Lloyd Price, Jerry
Butler, Gene Chandler, Ben E. King).
Clements names Miles Davis, Clifford Brown, Freddie Hubbard, and Wynton Marsalis as jazz
influences, and in the realm of popular music, great song writers like Prince, James Taylor,
Stevie Wonder, Annie Lenox, and Jill Scott. He also gives credit to trombonist Greg Boyer as a
major influence over his approach to playing music. Whether it’s go-go, R&B, funk, hip-hop,
Brazilian, salsa, or jazz, Clements is up to the job.
However, not only is he a busy performer, but Clements, son of two teachers, is also a music
educator: in 2005, he started B&B Music Lessons with bassist Bhagwan Khalsa, whom he met
in the early 1990s on a Hawaiian cruise where they were both performing. B&B Music Lessons
provides in-home music lessons on a full range of instruments. Their mission statement is “to
make the world a better place through music, one lesson at a time.”
Born and raised in the D.C. area, Clements began playing trumpet in elementary school, first
studying classical before moving into popular genres. Clements’ parents taught him a logical
and down-to-earth approach to life and a strong work ethic. From his grandparents, who
owned and operated restaurant and real-estate businesses, he inherited his business acumen
and his drive to succeed. Through childhood and youth he kept busy with a variety of jobs –
lawn mower, kite salesman, broiler cook, roofer. He completed two years at North Carolina’s
Elon College from 1986 to 1988 before leaving to develop his musical career, which began
when he joined the R&B group Junior Cline and the Recliners.
Besides music, Clements’ other interests include macro-economics, geo-politics, financial
history, and the vagaries of the U.S. dollar. Clements’ favorite quotes: Whatever you do, big
or small, do it well or don't do it at all. And When all is said and done, I want more done than
said.
My Jazz Story
Jazz captured my imagination as a 7th grader when I first heard Clifford Brown. Soon after that I learned about Miles Davis and the fuse was lit.