“Some of the most mesmerizing big band John Beasley … BEASLEY—a far-ranging pianist, composer,...
2
Katherine McVicker MUSIC WORKS INTERNATIONAL [email protected] Tel: +01 781 300 7580 Fax: +01 781 942 8858 www.musicworksinternational.com “It’s pure John Beasley, in that he’s taken all the Thelonious Monk compositions, rendered them new without reducing their Monkishness one iota, and the result is thrilling… this is maybe the best new big band on the planet.” INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF MUSIC “Some of the most mesmerizing big band music of recent memory.” DON HECKMAN GRAMMY® Award-nominated recording artist JOHN BEASLEY presents MONKESTRA, a smashing 15-piece big band 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. The Los Angeles Times considered John’s background trek through iconic bands as one of the many reasons for the banding together of this unique orchestra and his charts: “John Beasley, the one-time keyboardist for Freddie Hub- bard and Miles Davis, whose playing reflects a variety of generational influences, incorporating the emphatic chordal clusters of Herbie Hancock, the rhythmic quirkiness of Monk and the lush intelligence of Art Tatum into a highly refined personal voice.” MONK’estra John Beasley presents MONK’estra John Beasley presents @ MO NK 100 100
Transcript of “Some of the most mesmerizing big band John Beasley … BEASLEY—a far-ranging pianist, composer,...
Katherine McVickerMUSIC WORKS INTERNATIONAL
[email protected] Tel: +01 781 300 7580 Fax: +01 781 942 8858 www.musicworksinternational.com
“It’s pure John Beasley, in that he’s taken all the Thelonious Monk compositions, rendered them new without reducing their Monkishness one iota, and the result is thrilling… this is maybe the best new big band on the planet.” INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF MUSIC
“Some of the most mesmerizing big band music of recent memory.” DON HECKMAN
GRAMMY® Award-nominated recording artist JOHN BEASLEY presents MONKESTRA, a smashing 15-piece big band 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. The Los Angeles Times considered John’s background trek through iconic bands as one of the many reasons for the banding together of this unique orchestra and his charts: “John Beasley, the one-time keyboardist for Freddie Hub-bard and Miles Davis, whose playing reflects a variety of generational influences, incorporating the emphatic chordal clusters of Herbie Hancock, the rhythmic quirkiness of Monk and the lush intelligence of Art Tatum into a highly refined personal voice.”
MONK’estraJohn Beasley
presents
MONK’estraJohn Beasley
presents
@MONK100100
JOHN BEASLEY—a far-ranging pianist, composer, and arranger who’s worked with Miles Davis and Freddie Hubbard,
Dianne Reeves and Steely Dan, Herbie Hancock, Marcus Miller and Christian McBride —is easily one of the most versatile
musicians in jazz. He has led an impressive career juggling work as a bandleader, a first-call keyboardist, composer, and
arranger for film and television, along with being Musical Director for the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz global concerts
and several singing-competition TV shows including the juggernaut American Idol since 2005.
Beasley brings some of the jazz world’s finest instrumentalists to create MONK’estra Volume 1 to explore Monk’s music.
MONK’estra 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 presents MONK’ESTRA VOL 1 will make it’s debut on Mack Avenue Records in
the Summer of 2016 to kickstart 2017’s Monk @ 100 Centennial.
JOHN BEASLEY presents MONK’ESTRA on MWI.COM | JOHNBEASLEYMUSIC.COM | MONK’ESTRA EPK
Katherine McVickerMUSIC WORKS INTERNATIONAL
[email protected] Tel: +01 781 300 7580 Fax: +01 781 942 8858 www.musicworksinternational.com
JOHN BEASLEY presents MONK’estra
TRUMPET Bijon Watson, Rashawn Ross,
Brian Swartz, Dontae Winslow
TROMBONE Francisco Torres, Wendell Kelly,
Ryan Dragon, Steve Hughes
SAX Bob Sheppard, Danny Janklow,
Justo Almario, Tom Luer, Tommy Peterson
BASS Benjamin Shepherd
DRUMS Terreon Gulley
front band portrait: Eric Wolfinger
John Beasley portrait: Raj Naik
