John Beasley
Biography
An original artist with a highly expressive and personal style, veteran pianist/composer/arranger John Beasley's music career spans three decades. Beasley's credits read like a who's who list in the music world; he has performed or recorded with Miles Davis, Freddie Hubbard, Carly Simon, Chaka Khan, and James Brown.
As Artistic Director for the Monk Institute, Beasley shapes and orchestrates gala concerts, including the UN's inaugural International Jazz Day event in Paris and the 25th Monk Gala concert at the Kennedy Center in DC. In 2011, Christian McBride handed Beasley over the MD baton for the Los Angeles Philharmonic's series Jazz and the Orchestra. On the road, Beasley directs global tours for major artists such as AR Rahman, Steely Dan, and Queen Latifah. In Hollywood, Beasley works with 10-time Oscar nominee and film composer Thomas Newman on blockbuster films including James Bond Skyfall, The Exotic Marigold Hotel, Wall-E, Shawshank Redemption, Finding Nemo, and Six Feet Under, to name a few. Beasley started writing for TV at the age of 24 and spent 10 years working for Paramount and Disney on the hits Star Trek: Next Gen, Cheers and Fame.
With the popularity of reality TV, Beasley joined American Idol for six seasons as lead arranger. In Season 4, Beasley was Associate Music Director for the final female contestants and ushered Carrie Underwood to victory. In 2012, ABC picked Beasley to MD its singing competition Duets featuring John Legend, Kelly Clarkson, Robin Thicke and Jennifer Nettles.
In June 2012, Beasley released his 10th recording, 3 Brave Souls, with fellow Miles Davis alumni: Rolling Stone's bassist Darryl Jones and Michael Jackson's drummer on Billie Jean Ndugu Chancler. This latest recording follows his Grammy-nominated CD Positootly!
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