Jazz Man sculpture illustrates Cooley’s passion for bronze art

Bradley Cooley stands proudly besides his sculpture of the Jazz Man.
Photo submitted
A crew of assistants help to mount the Jazz Man sculpture near the play ground on FAMU Way.
Photo submitted

By St. Clair Murraine
Outlook Staff Writer

One of the first questions Bradley Cooley Jr. usually gets is “how do you do that” when his work is on display.

Cooley has been a sculptor for four decades. His latest piece in Tallahassee – the Jazz Man—has caused quite a buzz. It is on display as part of the History and Culture Trail along FAMU Way, nestled near the playground.

So it’s easy to understand why the one question that Cooley hears the most keeps coming up. It doesn’t matter that he isn’t even on the scene.

How he does it requires skills and talent like that of a musician, Cooley said.

“I can show somebody how to do it but you’ve got to have that talent,” he said. “Kind of like music. Musical talents some people have and some people don’t. You’ve got to have that knack. It’s a little bit harder thing to do versus teaching somebody to use a tape measure.”

Cooley, 53, has perfected the art that he started learning at age 12. His father, Bradley Cooley Sr., was his influence. They’ve created several pieces and are widely known for their making of sculpture featuring Native American Indians.

The one that’s getting noticed on FAMU Way, however, is his depiction of the music and its tie to Black culture in the area surrounding the history trail. It took eight months of work in his studio and four months to complete the casting in a foundry in Newnan, Ga.

The production started with jazz trumpeter Scotty Barnhart sitting as Cooley’s model. That session lasted long enough for Cooley to snap about 500 photos. He went through ever one before settling on the pose that the Jazz Man has. 

The facial expression isn’t that of Barnhart, but a mix of features, Cooley said. Barnhart’s posture was, however, essential to the outcome, he said.

“It makes it more natural because you’re getting the actual guy,” Cooley said.

The work has won praise from the Blueprint Intergovernmental Agency, which is overseeing development of the history trail. 

Cooley’s work is the second sculpture on the trail. The other was done my Mark Dickson, which is “In Honor of the Worker” from the Alberta Crate Factory. Murals are also scattered along the trail.

Not too far from the Jazz Man is another of Cooley’s sculptures — the bronze snake in front of the FAMU Center for Access and Student Success Building on Wahnish Way. 

That piece was created with help from Cooley’s 19-year-old son, Holden. He created the scales that are on the rattler.

Holden, whose fulltime job as an industrial mechanic limits his time to work on sculptures, was also influenced by his grandfather.

“I never thought I could be part of a project like the sculpture that my dad made, but after watching my granddad and my father do all the work that they have done, I felt I should give it a shot,” Holden said. “It amazes me today just how much talent my dad and grandfather have in sculpting.”

Another major piece of Cooley’s work is on display around the R.A. Gray Building downtown, featuring Native American Indians.

Some of his other work is on display on the west coast, in Spain and at the Augusta and St. Andrews golf courses. Sculptures done by Cooley and his father includes one of Ray Charles in Greenville, Fla., and another of Otis Redding in Macon, Ga.

Anyone looking for fault in the quality of work by Cooley will be hard presses to do so in a futile effort. There is no cutting corners in the process that could sometimes take longer than a year, he said.

“In bronze, when something is not right it’s going to haunt me for life,” Cooley said. “I spend all the time I can on any piece I do for anybody.

“I let my work speak for itself. I just put the work out there and let it speak for itself.”

He learned the importance of that even as a pre-teen assisting his father, who learned the skill from his father. 

Cooley grew up in Lamont, about 30 miles east of Tallahassee. Before moving north, his father raised tropical fish in South Florida. The family made a living running a small farm in Lamont and the older Cooley continued honing his skills as a sculptor.

Bradley Jr. paid close attention to the details of what his father did. The name Bronze by Cooley was eventually launched.

Since then, there has been some lean times for the business of making bronze sculptures. Cooley’s persistence paid off, though.

“You can financially do better in other careers. With these pieces, when times are good they are good but when they’re bad they’re bad,” he said. “I fell back on it just because it’s rewarding. Putting pieces down will be here for generations to come.”