Every now and again, when I’m preparing to speak with a guest, I find myself struggling a bit to create
the best intro for artists whose diversity, creativity, and career path is so vast that it’s hard to put into
words just how special an artist they are. Pianist, composer, producer, bandleader, and more – John
Beasley – is an award-winning artist who’s been described as a musical shapeshifter. His creative
roots run beyond jazz, combining elements of classical, pop, gospel, R&B, as well as music he’s
composed for large and small screens. He’s also stretched his unique musical imagination through the
works of Monk, Parker, and so many more, and on Saturday evening, he’s presenting the music of
another master: Miles Davis. It’s a special show to mark a century of exceptional music in John Beasley’s Unlimited Miles: Miles Davis at 100, and he joined me on the line earlier this week to tell us more about it.
John Beasley on working with Miles Davis and celebrating his Centennial
When did you begin planning this show – Unlimited Miles?
A couple of years ago. The record company I did the MONK’estra project with, Mack Avenue, came to me and said, “Well, we’re looking ahead to the Miles Davis Centennial.” So we started thinking about it then, reaching out to musicians who I thought would bring out the essence and forward-looking vibe of Miles that he always had. So we started to put together a band a couple of years ago.
People have told story after story of what it was like performing with Miles. What are some of the lessons you learned from him, or some of the elements you took from working with Miles into your musical work today?
Well, the first thing that comes to mind is that I’ve worked with a lot of incredible artists, but he’s [Davis] probably the most dedicated cat I saw on a day-t0-day basis working on art. If we had days off, he’d been painting canvas on the floor, he’d be listening to music, his trumpet would be on the couch. He’d be talking with his valet who he would be touring with about a young, new outfit for another tour coming up. It just seemed to be about art all day long. He would have a Walkman cassette player and he would just be listening to short, little snippets of whatever music caught his ear. He would analyze it and try to play it on his trumpet over and over again. It’s pretty amazing. He would listen to the show tapes on either the night of the gig or the next day, he would always be tweaking or wanting to try something new. It’s tough on the road to be doing that every day.
You’ve been Music Director for International Jazz Day … how have you seen this music – including compositions of Miles – evolving on international stages and with international artists?
Well, the good news is that more and more young people are playing jazz now more than ever. Everywhere I go, there’s a junior high school band, a high school jazz band, college, everywhere in the smallest cities and the biggest cities. So, there’s lots of volume being created and it’s human revolution, right? Look on YouTube, sports records are being broken every day. As a species, we’re getting faster and stronger and more talented. What really makes an artist is an artist is someone who really thinks different and is bold about the choices they make. Jazz has always been about why did Miles sounds different to Cannonball and that was always the focus so we’ll see what happens.
John Beasley’s Unlimited Miles: Miles Davis at 100 hits the Koerner Hall Stage this Saturday night at 8:00 pm. Tickets and information are available at rcmusic.com and you can check out Beasley’s full performance schedule, and more, at johnbeasleymusic.com.