Thursday@1:15: "The Magic Word: A Post-cellphone Fairy Tale," Preview of a musical-in-progress by Br

The Wheaton College Conservatory of Music presents a concert, “The Magic Word: A Post-cellphone Fairy Tale,” a preview of numbers from the musical-in-progress by Wheaton Conservatory faculty member Bradley Williams at 1:15 p.m. on Thursday, October 25. The concert will feature, along with Williams at the piano and vocals, the great Chicago talents of vocalists Spider Saloff, Keri Johnsrud and Chris Heroldt, guitarist Steve Ramsdell (also Conservatory faculty), percussionist Jim Widlowski,, bassoonist Peter Brusen and bassist Mary Halm.

Bradley Williams is a Chicago-based pianist, composer, vocalist and producer. He began teaching jazz piano and vocal students at Wheaton Conservatory in 2006. He is a Grammy-nominated pianist/arranger for Woody Herman’s Thundering Herd, with whom he toured in the mid-1980s. After settling in Chicago, he brought his talents to such classic venues as The Green Mill and The Gold Star Sardine Bar (serving there as musical director). In the world of broadcasting he was co-host/creator of WFMT’s internationally syndicated “Words and Music” program. His compositions have been incorporated into multiple film soundtracks, and an original orchestral tone poem to Martin Luther King’s “Letter From A Birmingham Jail Cell” is perennially revived for the civil rights leader’s birthday.

Williams leads his own 10-piece band, “The 21st Century Review,” a group that toured the Middle East and India and, most recently, appears on the CD “Investigation.” His trio was featured at the 2017 Chicago Jazz Festival. Williams is also collaborating with his wife, vocalist and pianist Amy Jill, on a soon-to-be-released CD, “Back and Forth.” He continues to appear regularly in Chicago and also operates his local recording studio, Eloquent Sound Chicago.

This concert is free and open to the public and will be held in the Armerding Center for Music and the Arts Recital Hall, which is located at 520 E. Kenilworth Ave. on Wheaton’s campus. For more information, contact the Conservatory of Music at 630.752.5099.