Results for "Jim Beard"

Jim Beard: Holodeck Waltz

by Mike Jacobs
February 3, 2024

Among stunning debut albums, Jim Beard's Song Of The Sun (CTI, 1991) is one that only seems to increase in luster over time. Listen to what is probably the album's centerpiece composition, “Holodeck Waltz" and it becomes clear how a relative newcomer like Beard could attract a veritable Who's Who of electric jazz to participate on ...

Leni Stern: The Twenty Year Audition

by Jim Worsley
February 1, 2024

Composer and musician Leni Stern has big news to share. She chose to do so quietly, with her usual cool, low-key and savoir-faire charm. In conversation with only my wife and I, recently at a jazz club in Los Angeles, she left us elated with the kind of news most other artists would be screaming from ...

Jim Beard: Grace In The Bubble

by Mike Jacobs
March 8, 2023

Though he's a great enough musician to be exactly what many a recording or live situation calls for, “Grace In The Bubble" is emblematic of the mixture of technical proficiency, compositional acumen and playful quirk that Jim Beard invests into his solo outings. If Beard's idiosyncratic whimsy was perhaps tucked away a bit on his stunning ...

A Rose In The Canyon

By Christopher James

Label: Val Gardena Music
Released: 2022
Track listing: The Enigmatic City : 4:44 . Adjunct/Disjunct : 6:19 . Blue in the 2nd Degree : 5:04 . Saudade (Theme and Variations) : 6:51 . The Mighty Quinn (Martin) : 6:49 . Baile de los Perros : 3:42 . Dr. Blowhard Stumples : 5:48 . A Rose in the Canyon : 4:26

Gary Husband: The Gemini Dimension

by Mike Jacobs
August 23, 2022

Even if forced to count just one of the two musical associations he's most noted for--a 35-year long relationship playing with the late Allan Holdsworth, and a 15-year long (and counting) stint in John McLaughlin's 4th Dimension--Gary Husband would still easily make many people's musician watchlist. But with both to his credit, (each on a different ...

Blue in the 2nd Degree

August 6, 2022

Album: A Rose In The Canyon
By Christopher James
Label: Val Gardena Music
Released: 2022
Duration: 5:04

When Jazz Pops, Part 1

by Ludovico Granvassu
October 19, 2021

This week's playlist focuses on the contribution of jazz musicians to pop, hip-hop, and rock projects, from the Art Ensemble of Chicago playing with French singer Brigitte Fontaine, to John Zorn featured on the debut album by the Brazilian queen Marisa Monte and The Thing's mighty alliance with Neneh Cherry. And a tribute to the late ...

Randy Brecker: Fusion Pioneer Still Blazing The Trails

by Jim Worsley
November 21, 2020

One of the greatest musicians of the past half century, Randy Brecker, continues to impress with his compositions, his playing, and his endurance. The famed trumpeter has released no less than eight records over the past couple of years! They are all unique on to themselves with only Brecker's familiar and sweet sound in common. That ...

Jim Beard / Jon Herington: Chunks And Chairknobs

by Mike Jacobs
March 12, 2020

The seeds for Chunks and Chairknobs were planted for guitarist Jon Herington and pianist Jim Beard a few years prior to its recording, while they were on a break from their touring duties with Steely Dan. The two took the opportunity to do something they had never done over the course of their 40 plus-year friendship—work ...

Jim Beard

Born: August 26, 1960

Since moving to New York in 1985, Jim Beard has toured the world extensively with some of the greatest names in music including Steely Dan, Pat Metheny, John McLaughlin and Wayne Shorter. He has recorded with artists from an extremely wide range of musical styles. From Dizzy Gillespie to the Brecker Brothers. Dianne Reeves to Meshell Ndegeocello. Toninho Horta to Steve Vai.

Jim has over 100 published compositions featured on recordings by John McLaughlin, Michael Brecker and many others and in books such as The New Real Book. He has appeared with the Metropole Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and performed in major festivals such as JVC, Montreux, Live Under the Sky, North Sea, Montreal, and stages in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, Royal Festival Hall, Blue Note (New York and Japan), CBGBs, Montmartre and many more. His writing has been used in television, movies and radio call signals and his piano playing can be heard in major Hollywood film scores.