John Beasley - Presents MONK'estra Vol. 1 (2016)

John Beasley has shared stages with some of the most important names in jazz during his three-decade career. From his days as a member of Freddie Hubbard's quintet and one of Miles Davis' last touring bands to his role as Music Director for Jazz Day galas for the Thelonious Monk Institute, Beasley has had a first-hand involvement with the genre's never-ending evolution. Thelonious Monk is a Mount Rushmore figure in the creation of modern jazz.

As the centennial of his birth rapidly approaches, Beasley - pianist, conductor and arranger - has grappled with the complex composer's legacy with his versatile big band riffing on the wit and unmistakable architecture of the Monk songbook with irrepressible energy and swinging abandon on MONK'estra, Volume 1, available August 19 on Mack Avenue Records. MONK'estra, Volume 1 has its roots in a commission from Los Angeles's Luckman Jazz Orchestra. When the gig was over, Beasley felt inspired to search deeper and continued to write more arrangements long after the performance, eventually assembling some of the finest musicians in Los Angeles to bring the charts to life in a musician's union rehearsal room. Amassing enough arrangements and developing a signature feel, he took the band public at Los Angeles's jazz incubator, the Blue Whale, to sold-out crowds. With a fifteen-piece ensemble, which includes first-call horns like Bob Sheppard, Bijon Watson, Rashawn Ross, Beasley conducted the band with an improviser's eye - free flowing and open to solos that add to the narrative. Since that casual debut in 2013, the band has become a fixture on the scene, performing at Disney Hall, Jazz Standard, Ford Amphitheatre, SFJAZZ twice and most recently at the Playboy Jazz Festival held at the world famous Hollywood Bowl.

"A trip-hop “’Round Midnight”? Why not?! At this point in time, Monk’s most famous tune has been so standardized that it takes a true overhaul to make it sound fresh. John Beasley’s chart kicks it off with seven badass snare triplets, and by the time the spectral theme settles in, its introspection is being goosed by a drum-and-bass groove that’s not usually associated with jazz. Like the rest of Beasley’s valentines, it’s found a way to bounce new life into a classic.
From the start of this all-Thelonious big band album—which begins with an escalator-up, escalator-down prance through “Epistrophy” that gives vibraphonist Gary Burton a chance to bolster the tune’s inherently percussive nature—there’s vigor in the air. Beasley, a Los Angeles-based pianist-arranger who has spent time writing for television and film as well as fulfilling musical director roles for Queen Latifah and Steely Dan, throws some entertaining elaborations our way. The oft-overlooked “Oska T” vamps its way from a tiptoeing hush to a swinging exclamation.
The music becomes a tad glossy now and then—Beasley’s also spent time penning jingles—but in several pieces the overt hooks help articulate the inspired designs he brings to everything from “Skippy” to “Gallop’s Gallop.” The ease that marks “Coming On The Hudson” says it all. An inventive Monk fiend devised a sideways glance at one of his heroes, and while the solos are swell, it’s the craftsmanship that will have fans anticipating Vol. 2." — Jim Macnie

"Beasley superimposes an entertaining quirkiness on Monk’s own quirkiness with tart voicings, sharp tempo turns, dynamic contrasts and, yes, some playful gimmickry. The charts amass and dispense their tensions with an amiable mischief." — John McDonough

"Too many have tried to smooth Monk’s brilliant corners. Beasley respects the edges most of the time, which helps his arrangements bristle. I’m less taken with the dub-infusions and slinky r&b detours, but those are but a blip on an otherwise well-charted map." — John Corbett

"Beasley has some amusing big band ideas, especially his lively, conversational cross-rhythms, but many are also artificial (like the neo-soul backbeat on “‘Round Midnight”) and thrown at the listener in hyper batches that make for a busy listen." — Paul de Barros

John Beasley: piano, Minimoog (4), Fender Rhodes (4), synthesizer;
Bob Sheppard, Danny Janklow, Justo Almario, Tom Peterson, Tom Luer, Jeff Driskill (9), Adam Schroeder: woodwinds;
Bijon Watson, Jaime Hovorka, Brian Swartz, James Ford: trumpets;
Wendell Kelly, Steve Hughes, Ryan Dragon, Lemar Guillary, Paul Young (9), Eric Miller (9): trombone;
Ben J. Shepherd, Reggie Hamilton, Rickey Minor (8): bass;
Terreon Gully, Gary Novak (9): drums;
Joey De Leon: percussion (9);
Gary Burton: vibes (1);
Grégoire Maret: harmonica (6)

Track List:
01. Epistrophy (6:21)
02. Skippy (8:03)
03. Oska T (8:15)
04. Monk's Processional (Medley) (2:50)
05. 'Round Midnight (3:43)
06. Ask Me Now (6:46)
07. Gallop's Gallop (3:14)
08. Little Rootie Tootie (9:13)
09. Coming on the Hudson (5:47)

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