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Jim Beard And Jon Herington At The Kennett Flash
by Mike Jacobs
The Herington / Beard Duo The Kennett Flash Kennett Square, PA June 15, 2017 Nestled in the small town of Kennett Square Pennsylvania, the Kennett Flash is a bit of an anomaly these days-- and a welcome one at that. It's a small non-profit venue for the arts, able to hold no more than 100 people, set up with family-style table seating. With its intimacy and solid turnout this night, it also seemed an ideal ...
Continue ReadingJim Beard: Serving The Music
by George Colligan
[ Editor's Note: The following interview is reprinted from George Colligan's blog, Jazztruth ] Joe Zawinul said, “Jim Beard is my favorite keyboard player besides myself." I think that's a pretty high compliment, don't you? Jim Beard has been on the scene since the 1980s with a resume that reads like a sideman's dream: Wayne Shorter, Michael Brecker, John McLaughlin, Steely Dan, and a host of other upper echelon artists. Beard is a virtuoso pianist and composer, yet ...
Continue ReadingRon van Stratum: Swingin' In The Swamp
by Gina Vodegel
It's a generally accepted misconception that those who earn a living as a teacher in the arts must either not be good enough a performer, or are compelled to satisfy a wretched sense of envy, while clipping the wings of very talented students. Some of the stories out there may be true, but drummer/percussionist Ron van Stratum's Swingin' In The Swamp defies all such horror tales. Van Stratum has been a drum teacher since 1993 at The Netherlands' Maastricht Conservatory--recruited ...
Continue ReadingJim Beard: Revolutions
by Raul d'Gama Rose
Few big band music is as exiting and swings with such abandon as the music played by the various incarnations of ensembles that gather together in the name of Charles Mingus, and that played by bands sometimes assembled by Carla Bley and, of course, the music directed by the one and only Maria Schneider. And then there is this music written by Jim Beard and performed by him and a few guests but largely directed by the magisterial Vince Mendoza, ...
Continue ReadingJim Beard: Revolutions
by Mark F. Turner
Jim Beard might just be one the best modern jazz composers; correction, music composers, you've never heard of. Since the mid 1980s he's either, performed, produced or written compositions for the likes of Wayne Shorter, Michael Brecker and Pat Metheny, and recently can be heard providing his wares on Walter Becker's (of Steely Dan) recording, Circus Money (Mailboat Records, 2008). Yet it's Beard's own critically acclaimed (if obscure) recordings, beginning with his 1990 debut, Song of the Sun ...
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