John Beasley (musician)

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John Beasley (born September 28, 1960 in Shreveport ) is an American jazz pianist and composer who has worked for musicians as diverse as Sérgio Mendes , Freddie Hubbard , Miles Davis , Steely Dan , Chaka Khan , James Brown , Spice Girls , Ry Cooder , John Patitucci , Queen Latifah , Lee Ritenour and Ivan Lins .

Live and act

Beasley, who comes from a family of musicians and turned to jazz in high school, first learned various woodwind instruments. At the age of 14 he wrote a piece for the University of North Texas Jazz Band, which was then taken over by Stan Kenton in the repertoire. Beasley decided against studying instrumental and toured with Sérgio Mendes instead and worked as a studio musician in Los Angeles .

At the age of 24 he wrote and arranged music for television shows from Paramount , Disney and MGM . He also worked as a pianist in the studios. He was also part of Freddy Hubbard's band for six years. In 1989 Miles Davis brought him into his band; later he toured with Steely Dan , Carly Simon , Barbra Streisand , Baaba Maal , Queen Latifah, Christian McBride , Chaka Khan, James Brown and John Pattituci.

Since the early 1990s he released albums with his own bands. His album Positootly! (2009) was nominated for a Grammy for best instrumental jazz album. With his big band MONK'estra he tries to connect to the idiom of Thelonious Monk ; their albums Monk'estra, Volume 1 and Monk'estra Volume 2 were nominated for a Grammy for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album . He can also be heard on albums by Al Jarreau , Chick Corea , Wayne Krantz , Jon Hassell , Tania Maria , Robby Ameen , Kyle Eastwood and Andreas Öberg .

Discographic notes

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ US Public Records Index , Vol 1 (Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.), 2010.
  2. Larry Taylor, "John Beasley: Positootly! (2009)," All About Jazz.
  3. Grammy-nominated John Beasley goes off the hook on Vol. 2 of 'MONK'estra'