John Beasley & Frankfurt Radio Bigband
Biographie John Beasley & Frankfurt Radio Bigband
John Beasley
pianist, composer, and arranger John Beasley has built a genre-spanning career bridging jazz, classical, pop, and film/TV music. A musical shapeshifter with deep jazz roots, he rose to prominence in his 20s performing with Miles Davis and Freddie Hubbard, and has since collaborated with artists including Dianne Reeves, Christian McBride, Chaka Khan, Chucho Valdés, and Steely Dan.
Beasley’s acclaimed recordings include the 2x GRAMMY® winning, 14x nominated MONK’estra trilogy, Bird Lives, Returning to Forever, El Trio, Maria Mendes, and Positootly! and two Latin GRAMMY nominations, reflecting his wide-ranging impact as both a composer, arranger, and producer.
As Music Director for the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz, Beasley leads the globally broadcast International Jazz Day gala concerts, staged in cities including Istanbul, Havana, Osaka, and Tangier, with Chicago hosting in 2026. His musical direction for Jazz at the White House earned an Emmy nomination.
In 2026, Beasley will mark the centennials of Miles Davis and John Coltrane through five major projects. Central among them is Unlimited Miles, a new ensemble he will lead on a global tour beginning in March. In collaboration with Marcus Miller, Beasley will reimagine Tutu and Amandla with the Metropole Orkest. He will conduct Hamburg’s NDR Big Band playing his reimagination of Filles de Kilimanjaro, and with Frankfurt’s HR Big Band featuring Isaiah Collier, he will explore the music of Coltrane. In Sweden, Beasley will mark the triple centennials of Miles, Coltrane, and Stockholm’s Konserthuset Concert Hall by revisiting the repertoire from historic concerts Miles and Coltrane performed at the legendary venue. In between, Beasley will continue to tour with Dianne Reeves and squeeze in a gig with his own MONK’estra.
Upcoming releases include Invisible Piano with the SWR Big Band, recorded on a Steinway Spiro (o-tone music), and Unlimited Miles: Live from Blue Note Tokyo (Mack Avenue Records). When not touring, Beasley collaborates closely with 15-x Oscar-nominated composer Thomas Newman, contributing to major film scores including Skyfall and Spectre, and joining Newman on the upcoming Star Wars feature.
