Guest ArtistsJohn Beasley / MONK'estra

MONK'estra - a Big modern jazz Band project
John Beasley, Conductor/Arranger

Grammy®-nominated musician John Beasley presents MONK’estra, a smashing 15-piece big band project that captures the spirit of Thelonious Monk’s singular music – the off-beat melodies and humor, strange beauty and unbounded swing – in fresh arrangements flavored with New Orleans spirit, hip-hop, Afro-Cuban rhythms and atmospheric colors.

Veteran jazz critic Don Heckman described hearing the project MONK’estra as “some of the most mesmerizing big band music of recent memory…extraordinary orchestrating abilities, imaginative soloing from players.”

Beasley, a far-ranging pianist, composer and arranger who’s worked with Miles Davis, Freddie Hubbard, Dianne Reeves and Steely Dan, is easily one of the busiest and most versatile musicians in jazz. He has led a sparkling career that has balanced work as a bandleader, a first-call keyboardist, composer and arranger for music projects, film and television, along with being Music Director for the Monk Institute.

Beasley assembled some of the jazz world’s finest instrumentalists to explore Monk’s music as well as the work of Duke Ellington, Benny Golson and his own adventurous originals. Beasley re-imagines Thelonious Monk’s compositions with an eye to the future; a killer contemporary big band that pays loving tribute to the master’s music while infusing it with contemporary harmonies, unstoppable grooves and a contagious sense of fun.

JOHN BEASLEY

Background: Born in Louisiana, the cradle of jazz, Beasley started writing arrangements in junior high school, the first one for the University of North Texas Jazz Band. Jimmy Lyons, founder of the Monterey Jazz Festival, heard Beasley’s piece and recommended him for a scholarship at the Stan Kenton summer jazz camp. The song was then added to The Stan Kenton Orchestra’s repertoire that year.

Beasley is a third generation musician. His father is a bassoonist, pianist and composer. His mother was a brass instrumentalist, band conductor and orchestrator. His grandfather was a trombonist. Growing up around musicians, John learned how to play trumpet, oboe, drums, saxophone and flute, mostly because of his mother’s need for wind instrumentalists for her bands.

Declining an oboe scholarship from the Julliard at 17, Beasley instead started playing in clubs before he was of legal drinking age. Soon after, he went on his first world tour with Brazilian artist Sergio Mendes, then spent eight years with jazz icon Freddie Hubbard, while keeping up with his garage band Audio Mind with Vinnie Colauita, John Patittucci and Steve Taviglione.

Film/TV/Commercials: At the young age of 24, Beasley started writing music for Paramount, Disney and MGM’s television shows, including Cheers, Family Ties, Star Trek and Fame. He wrote the Touchstone TV logo, which is still used today. As a studio musician, he has worked for luminaries such as Thomas Newman, Dave Gruisin, Alan Silvestri and Carmine Coppola. Today, he is part of Thomas Newman’s core team creating drum and synth programming for James Bond’s Spectre and Skyfall, He Called Me Malala, Get on Up (James Brown biopic), Exotic Marigold Hotel, Finding Nemo and Wall-E, to name a few.

He writes music for Nobel Peace Prize-winning Doctors Without Borders’ videos pro bono. Along the way, Beasley has written award-winning commercials for ad agencies in the U.S. and Germany for over 20 years.

Miles Davis Call and Recording Career: At 28, Beasley got the phone call of a lifetime from Miles Davis to join his band. While on tour with Miles, he was inspired to release his first CD, Cauldron, which was produced by Steely Dan’s Walter Becker. His Positootly! album earned a 2011 Grammy® nomination for Best Jazz Instrumental Record. In 2012, he joined forces with two other Miles Davis alumni, Darryl Jones (Rolling Stones bassist), and the signature drummer for Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean,” Ndugu Chancler, to form 3 Brave Souls. This triumvirate wrote, as one reviewer said, some “tangy, ass-wiggling funk.”

Long a dream, Beasley formed the 15-piece big band called MONK’estra, capturing the spirit of Monk’s unique quirkiness, offbeat accents and punchy dissonances in fresh arrangements of Monk’s and other classic and original compositions. MONK’estra has played to standing ovations at SFJazz, Walt Disney Hall, Ford Amphitheatre, Jazz Standard and LACMA. Mack Avenue released MONK’estra Vo.l 1 in August 2016 with Vol. 2 due out in 2017 – Thelonious Monk’s Centennial year.