|
Bradley Knight began his arranging
career at the astonishing age of 14, writing jazz ensemble charts in the
bedroom of his parents' upstate South Carolina home. Although these
charts would never be played or seen by anyone, they were some of the
building blocks that led to Bradley's success as one of the sharpest new
arrangers in choral music today.
His parents, Danny and Wanda Knight,
were the Music Ministers in a rural Pentecostal church, and taught their
sons Bradley and Chris to love music, especially church music. It is no
surprise, then, that Bradley's musical mentors as a budding musician
were writers/arrangers Lari Goss, (legendary arranger) Geron Davis,
(great writer and keyboard player) and Carol Cymbala, (Brooklyn
Tabernacle Choir ). Later, his dad made him the choir accompanist,
which eventually led to Bradley doing arrangements for the choir, as
well as orchestrations for the church's growing 15-piece band.
Bradley attended Lee University in
Cleveland, Tennessee. It was at this school that he began orchestration
and arranging classes with top Nashville arranger Lari Goss, who
eventually took Bradley to Nashville as an intern. Months of work there
led to a relationship with Landy and Joy Gardner, who hired him in 1998,
at the age of 21, as the musical director of the Christ Church Choir.
Under their leadership, Bradley assisted in countless arrangements, and
helped to produce five recordings and four choral collections, two of
which received Dove Award nominations.
Bradley got married in 2002, and the
newlyweds packed up and moved to Dallas, Texas, where Bradley accepted
the staff arranging position with Todd Bell and the Prestonwood
Celebration Choir & Orchestra, who lovingly refer to Bradley as "The
Minister of Funk." All you have to do is listen to some of Bradley's
arrangements to hear his love for jazz and ability to fuse gospel with
jazz flavors!
Bradley’s work as a choral arranger
continues to flourish, as he has arranged hundreds of powerful
arrangements that are sung in churches across America every Sunday.
Bradley feels so blessed and humbled by God's calling on his life, and
is extremely thankful to the Lord for his wife, his family, his church,
and especially ... His Savior.
Audio Samples
Goodness & Mercy
(More audio samples coming soon!)
Here are some places you can
visit to purchase Bradley's arrangements:
You can e-mail Bradley at
BKnight@prestonwood.org
|
