JOHN BEASLEY

JOHN BEASLEY PIANIST, RECORDING ARTIST AND TV/FILM COMPOSER
Born in Louisiana, the cradle of jazz, Beasley started writing compositions in junior high school. At age 14, he wrote a jazz piece 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 Stan Kenton Orchestra performed Beasley's composition at the camp and then added it to its repertoire that year.

Beasley is a third generation musician. His father is a bassoonist, pianist and composer. His mother is a brass instrumentalist and 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, Beasley went on to play and record with Miles Davis, Steely Dan, Carly Simon, Barbara Streisand, Baaba Maal, James Brown, Queen Latifah, Christian McBride, Chaka Khan and John Pattituci to name just a few. Recognizing Beasley's talent for composing and arranging, major recording artists have added Beasley's original sound and music to their projects.

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 also wrote the Touchstone TV logo, which is still used today. His first brush with Hollywood films was as a pianist playing on film scores for film luminaries such as Thomas Newman, Dave Grusin, Alan Silvestri and Carmine Coppola in box office hits such as "Finding Nemo," "Erin Brockovich," "Godfather III," "A Bug's Life," and "Austin Powers: The Spy who Shagged Me." He composes pro bono for films and podcasts for Nobel Peace Prize winning Doctors Without Borders. Along the way, Beasley has written award winning commercials for ad agencies in the US and Germany for over 20 years. While touring with Miles Davis, Beasley was inspired to release his first of seven original recordings.

Today, Beasley continues to work in TV, film and commercial projects, while writing new music for recordings, producing artists as well as balancing his work with shows such as American Idol, America's Got Talent, Singing Bee and Pussycat Dolls Presents: The Search for the Next Doll, Season 1.
Beasley will be releasing a new album on March 24 LETTER TO HERBIE, a tribute album to Herbie Hancock, featuring: Christian McBride, Roy Hargrove, Jeff "Tain" Watts,Steve Tavaglione,Michael O’Neill, Louis Conte.He has just completed a 40-city US tour as Queen Latifah's musical director managing a 12-piece band to promote her new CD, TRAVLIN; LITE. They are continuing the tour throughout 2008. Catch a concert!
For more information and to purchase Beasley’s music, please visit: BeasleyMusic.com or email: [email protected]