It's typically the household names of jazz who get lavish biographical treatments, but John Beasley should get his own book — it would be a hell of a yarn.
Across the decades, the GRAMMY-winning (and 11-time nominated) pianist, arranger and composer has played with Miles Davis, Freddie Hubbard, Dianne Reeves, Steely Dan, and other luminaries.
Now, Beasley is back in the spotlight. At the 2023 GRAMMYs, he's nominated in three categories: Best Improvised Jazz Solo, Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album and Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella. All of those nominations came from Bird Lives, Beasley's tribute album to the late jazz great Charlie Parker that he released with Magnus Lindgren and SWR Big Band in 2021.
In this edition of Road To The GRAMMYs — a GRAMMY.com video series illuminating GRAMMY nominees' winding creative paths — watch Beasley trace his rise in the jazz scene from his very musical childhood.
As the venerated musician tells it, his grandfather was a Dixieland trombonist; he became obsessed with big-band artists like the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis orchestra while growing up in Texas; and went on to work with everyone from Chaka Khan to Sergio Mendes to Walter Becker.
Check out the history-stuffed video above, keep checking GRAMMY.com for more episodes of Road To The GRAMMYs, and be sure to watch the 2023 GRAMMYs on Feb. 5 on CBS.
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