Bradley Williams, who composed the music for Wrigley Field: Beyond The Ivy, started his professional career in the early 1980's as the pianist and arranger for Woody Herman's Thundering Herd. Soon after moving to Chicago, he became the musical director of the legendary Gold Star Sardine Bar. There, at the Green Mill, and a host of other nightclubs, Williams was the requested accompanist of many national artists whenever their tours passed through the Windy City. On disc and stage, he's worked with Michael Legrand, Mark Murphy, Sheila Jordan, and Joe Henderson, among others.

In the mid-90's, Williams formed the Original 21st Century Review, a 10-piece band which looks back at the last hundred years of American music and blends styles as disparate as blues, free jazz, and Tin Pan Alley. The Review has since released a pair of CDs: Songs For Swinging Sophisticates, Volumes I and II. In addition to playing a raft of stateside gigs, the Review has performed before packed houses in Jerusalem (1999) and India (April 2001).

Two years ago, Williams became the musical director and keyboardist for the radio program "Words and Music," broadcast weekly on WFMT and dozens of other stations around the country. For 45 episodes, WIlliams and singer Spider Saloff brought buried treasures of the American Songbook to life. He attributes both his musical eclecticism and eccentricity to having been raised in a town that boasts more mental hospitals per capita than any other in the world -- Topeka, Kansas.