John Beasley on Invisible Piano

Blending deep jazz tradition with fearless experimentation, John Beasley has spent decades shaping music from behind the piano, the conductor’s stand, and some of the world’s biggest stages. A Grammy-winning arranger, as well as pianist, composer and music director, his career has seen him collaborate with artists ranging from Miles Davis and Chaka Khan to Steely Dan and Dianne Reeves, while also leading ambitious large ensemble projects that reimagine the possibilities of modern jazz.

His latest album, Invisible Piano, was inspired by a visit to the Staatsgalerie art museum in Stuttgart –  a collection of compositions born from translating paintings and sculptures into sound. A few weeks ago, John shared with us the process of creating the album, the visual inspirations behind the music, and his approach to composing away from the piano…

To those who may be unfamiliar with you or your music, you’ve had some pretty incredible experiences across your career. Would you mind sharing some highlights?

Two roles I never imagined as a young musician have shaped my path: arranger/conductor and music director. It started at 14, when an arrangement I wrote earned me a scholarship to the Stan Kenton Band Camp. That sparked a love for composing and arranging that’s grown into commissions for both emerging and legendary artists, along with original big band projects and recordings.

This year is a big one; I joke that I’m “speed-dating” European big bands. I’m releasing Invisible Piano after its premiere with the SWR Big Band. In February, I reimagined Miles Davis’ Tutu and Amandla music for the Metropole Orkest, featuring Marcus Miller, and then headed to Denmark to perform my MONK’estra charts with the Nordkraft Big Band. Coming up, I’m working with the HR Big Band on projects with Brandee Younger and Isaiah Collier, and creating a new take on Filles de Kilimanjaro for the NDR Bigband. Another upcoming project with SWR Big Band this summer is concerts and a recording – an Afro-funk reimagining of Herbie Hancock’s Secrets – featuring Lionel Loueke.

Alongside that, I’ve spent the past 15 years as Music Director for International Jazz Day global gala concerts, produced by the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz, with 2026 hosted in Chicago. I was also honored with an Emmy nomination for Jazz at the White House and continue to direct the Institute’s annual competitions, including this year’s vocal finals at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris.

Other highlights include performing as a pianist/keyboardist with artists such as Miles Davis, Freddie Hubbard, Chaka Khan, Steely Dan, Carly Simon, Chucho Valdés, and A. R. Rahman. I currently tour with Dianne Reeves and my band, Unlimited Miles.

In between touring and recording, I also collaborate on film projects with Thomas Newman, and this year we’re working together on three films, including a new installment in the Star Wars universe.

You have a new album, Invisible Piano, where you derived inspiration from art. Can you expand more on that experience?

For me, ideas rarely begin as music: they start as a feeling, an image, or even a question. I’m often “hearing” music while just going about daily life – my wife jokes that I even tap out rhythms in my sleep on her arm. Invisible Piano was conceived during a visit to the Staatsgalerie art museum in Stuttgart. I found myself almost listening with my eyes while going from room to room viewing paintings and sculptures, translating what I saw into sound. I pulled out my phone to capture these little musical fragments in the moment. (I don’t typically compose at the piano.) Over time, those sketches grew into the pieces of four songs in Invisible Piano.

How did you channel that response from the visual into a musical form? What was the compositional process like?

About a week after visiting the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, the SWR Big Band challenged me with a new commission: to start with improvisation and build those ideas outward for a full jazz orchestra. I already had these short musical fragments – little “sketches” inspired by the artwork - so they became the seeds.

I began by listening back to the ideas I’d captured on my phone, transcribing them, and shaping them into sketches that could spark improvisation. As a Steinway & Sons artist, I then spent two days in New York recording improvisations on their Steinway Spirio. The Spirio captures performance data, so I brought those files into Pro Tools to really examine what I’d played – sometimes chaotic, sometimes revealing.

From there, I used Sibelius to expand those ideas into full orchestral scores. So the process moved from instinct to analysis to orchestration; turning spontaneous, visual-inspired ideas into something orchestrated for a big band.

Why did you choose to have five originals and two covers?

I’d spent the last few years working on commissions that involved reimagining legacy artists like Charlie Parker, Chick Corea, Wayne Shorter, and three albums centered on Thelonious Monk, so this time I really wanted to prioritise my own original music.

That said, the two covers were also personal. ‘Fire and Rain’ by James Taylor and ‘Can’t Hide Love’ by Earth, Wind & Fire are songs I’ve carried with me since I was young. ‘Fire and Rain’ has this deeply melancholic, almost fragile emotional core, while 'Can’t Hide Love' builds into that unforgettable vamp-out chorus, one of those rare earworms that stays with you for life. Including them felt less like adding covers and more like acknowledging formative influences that shaped how I hear and feel music.

Orchestrations and the SWR Big Band play such a large role in this project. Did you know you wanted that epic-scale instrumentation, and how did it feel to play alongside the ensemble?

The scale of the orchestration was actually a natural fit for me. This project was a commission with an orchestra I’ve collaborated with on at least seven previous occasions, so I’ve developed a deep familiarity with the musicians: their individual voices, the collective sound, and how to write for that kind of ensemble. Working at that “epic” scale feels less like a stretch and more like an extension of an ongoing musical relationship.

What made Invisible Piano truly unique was the performance setup. I was able to conduct the orchestra while the Spirio piano simultaneously played back my original improvisations - the ghost of me on the piano. That created a kind of dialogue between my past self at the piano and my present self as a conductor, shaping, responding, and recontextualizing those ideas in real time through the orchestra. It was a very immersive and almost surreal experience, blurring the line between soloist and conductor in a way I hadn’t explored before.

How did conducting the ensemble influence your perspective on the music you originally created alone?

Conducting the ensemble completely reshaped how I experienced the music. For me, a composition is never truly finished, there’s always an ongoing process of refining, adjusting, and reimagining, even after it’s been recorded. Stepping onto the podium brings a different level of clarity and perspective; you’re no longer inside the music as a player, but hearing it unfold in real time from the outside.

There’s also something uniquely powerful about hearing ideas that once existed only on paper come to life through an orchestra. It’s always a thrill – that first moment when the sound becomes real, and it often reveals things you couldn’t fully anticipate: balances, colours, emotional weight. Conducting turns the piece into a living, evolving work, and it inevitably feeds back into how I continue to shape it in future performances.

Were there moments where the band reinterpreted your ideas in ways you didn’t expect?

Absolutely; and honestly, that’s the whole point. If everyone just plays what’s on the page, we might as well stay home and admire the PDF. I come from a jazz tradition where interpretation isn’t a bonus feature, it’s the engine. The best moments are when someone bends a phrase, stretches a groove, or hears a colour I didn’t even know was there. That’s when the music starts talking back – and sometimes it has better ideas than I do.

The album moves between improvisation, composition, and orchestral writing, so how difficult was it to find a balance?

It didn’t feel like a balancing act so much as a conversation. Improvisation is the DNA of jazz, so even the most detailed orchestral writing still leaves room for air, flexibility, and risk. What's on the page gives you architecture; the improvisation gives you life inside the building. If anything, the challenge isn’t including improvisation, it’s making sure everything around it breathes enough so it can actually happen.

How does this album compare to your previous work?

Every project feels like a different chapter of the same curiosity. On El Trio: Live from Italy with Cuban musicians and friends Horacio ‘El Negro’ Hernández and José Gola, it was pure, high-wire improvisation: three musicians, no safety net, just reacting in real time playing Afro-Cuban rhythms. We toured through Italy, hit ‘record’, and that energy carried all the way to a GRAMMY nomination.

Then with Portuguese vocalist Maria Mendes, I took jazz brush strokes to the ever intimate, and lyrical Fado music. At the end of the day, I’m just following curiosity wherever it leads… and trying not to repeat myself too much along the way.

Are there particular tracks that feel especially personal to you?

‘Galaha’ came from a very different kind of imagery, my wife’s experience working in the Afar Desert in Ethiopia with Doctors Without Borders. She described the remoteness, the sandstorms, and the vast night skies filled with stars, and that painted a vivid picture for me musically, along with the Ethio-jazz rhythms.

Looking back, what surprised you most about how this project evolved from idea to album?

What really stands out is the journey, both geographically and over time. This wasn’t a project that appeared in a single burst; it unfolded across continents over nearly five years. It began in Stuttgart, moved through New York City, and settled into my studio in Los Angeles, where much of the writing took shape. I was testing Spirio files at Steinway & Sons in LA, then flying back to Stuttgart to record and premiere the project – it was constantly in motion, and the music evolved with every stop.

Along the way, I had opportunities to perform the material in very different contexts: solo piano shows in San Diego and Denver. At these shows, I leaned into the concept fully: presenting Invisible Piano as a kind of duet between myself and the Spirio, using my instrument “KeyWi” to interact live while the piano played back my earlier improvisations. It became this layered conversation across time: past and present versions of myself meeting on stage.

And then there’s the less glamorous but very real part of the process: finding a home for the music. That can be a long, patience-testing journey for any artist. So it was incredibly meaningful to have o-tone music come on board and believe in the project. After all that movement and evolution, having the album finally land in the world feels both grounding and surreal.

What is coming up for you?

Right now I’m in Tokyo, ready with my new band called Unlimited Miles, celebrating the centennial of Miles Davis, on a fourteen-city tour. The lineup is a powerhouse sextet including Sean Jones, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Mark Turner, Ben Williams, Terreon Gully, and Marcus Strickland, with Marquis Hill joining on select dates, and me.

I chose each of these musicians for their distinct voices – this isn’t about recreating Miles, it’s about channeling that spirit of constant reinvention and bringing the music into the present. We’re reimagining his repertoire in a way that feels alive and personal to us.

There’s also a concert film with Paramax Films coming out on May 26, 2026, Miles’ 100th Birthday, and a live album, Unlimited Miles: Live from Blue Note Tokyo, will be released by Mack Avenue Records in January 2027 as we continue touring. It’s a project that’s meant to keep evolving on the road, just like the music itself.