composer, arranger, conductor

Beasley's been a bad-ass.
He has changed and rearranged like a mad man gone amok.
He's a genius in getting just the right sound for his perambulations. -Classiclite

Beasley does real clever work on vintage pieces, such as adding a hip-hop urban drum groove to Round Midnight and mixing James Bond accents to a synth and irresistible mambo groove
to Little Rootie Tootie. -Jazz Weekly

HR Big Band

Conductor, Arranger, Producer

Concerts & Recordings: John Beasley, conductor/arranger

Symphonic Jazz Commissions:

Composer

SWR Big Band

Arranger, Producer, Composer

Albums and Concerts

  • 2026: Invisible Piano, composer John Beasley
    2026: Herbie Hancock’s Secrets ft Lionel Loueke

  • 2021: Charlie Parker Bird Lives: Chris Potter, Charles McPherson, Miguel Zenon, Tia Fuller, Joe Lovano, Camille Bertrault w/ SWR Big Band
    and a 10-violin ensemble

3 GRAMMY nominations:
Large Jazz Ensemble, Solo piano, Arrangement (Bird Lives)

Listen

Winner, 65th GRAMMY Awards: Best Arrangement
Scrapple from the Apple (Bird Lives)

MONK’estra, the music of Thelonious Monk

The MONK'estra trilogy of albums and over 80 concerts worldwide showcase John Beasley's reimagination of Thelonious Monk's iconic compositions. Through his inventive and versatile MONK'estra big band, Beasley adeptly navigates Monk's eccentricities, spanning from boisterous swing to raucous funk and Afro-Cuban explosiveness. On MONK'estra Plays John Beasley, the band shifts its focus to its fearless leader's estimable compositions & piano playing in trio, septet, big band.

Winner 63rd GRAMMY Award:
Best Arrangement Donna Lee (MONK’estra Plays John Beasley)

6 GRAMMY nominations:
2 for Large Jazz Ensemble,
2 for Arrangements, 2 for solos piano

Maria Mendes w/ Metropole Orkest
Arranger, Conductor, Producer

  • Saudade, Colour of Love

  • Close to Me

Both albums serve as love letters to fado and jazz. Com Que Voz sets the perfect scene, with its richly detailed arrangement, Mendes's soaring vocals, and the music's harmonic twists and turns combining to powerful effect.

2 nominations, 65th & 66th GRAMMY Awards: Best Arrangement, Vocal
Asas Fechadas & Com Que Voz

Winner, Edison Jazz World Award 2020 (Holland)
Best Jazz Vocal Album: Cose to Me

2 nominations: 24th & 25th Latin GRAMMY Awards: Best Arrangement, Vocal: Asas Fechadas & Com Que Voz

Listen
Listen

Holy Room
Arranger, Conducter

“Remarkable live album. Somi pours her entire heart and soul into the performance with such a profound depth of feeling ensures that the music pours forth with a rich arterial force. Enveloped by the thrilling sound of the Frankfurt Radio Big Band, with beautiful arrangements courtesy of conductor John Beasley, whether it's the dramatic ‘Black Enough’, the Afrobeat-inspired ‘Lady Revisited’ or the hypnotic ‘Ingele’, performed in Swahili and taken from her 2007 album, Red Soil In My Eyes, Somi tells her stories with an unforced brilliance.” -JazzWise

SOMI w/ HR Big Band

Nominee, 63rd GRAMMY Awards: Best Jazz Vocal Album

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Additional Select Commissions, Arrangements

  • Los Angeles Philharmonic commission: "Can’t, Buts and If’s"

  • Carnegie Hall NYO Jazz Orchestra commission: "Fête de la Tête" on “We are still here” album

  • Bohuslan Big Band (Gothenburg, Sweden) - Weather Report arrangements

  • Keiko Matsui “Euphoria” -big band & string violin arrangements

  • Ruthie Foster with Latvia Jazz Orchestra - John Beasley conductor/arranger

  • NDR Big Band: Fille de Kilamanjaro - Nikki Iles, conductor, John Beasley, arranger ft. Terreon Gully on drums

Click for list of credits