End of January - 2009
Still on my mind is my teacher, Freddie Hubbard’s passing on Dec. 29th.   What he has meant to me…a few words:

Freddie Hubbard’s School Of Music
Freddie was endowed with a musical imagination that matched his technical precision. At the beginning of every set I played over a 10-year period, I had to face Freddie-style intimidation, but this made me the musician I am today.  Freddie would come on stage and start with a song at a blazing tempo. It was a big tease. The musicians had to keep up.  Then, he would call songs that I wasn’t familiar with, which made me learn on the set - old school style: listening and playing by ear. 

He was a great teacher. I would not have the chops nor instinct, intuition, insight and musical imagination that I have today without his tutelage.  I would not have been able to face playing with Miles and Steely Dan without the school of hard Freddie Hubbard-knocks.

Freddie took a chance hiring me - a 22 year old - in the early 80’s.  He knew he could shape me, teach me to accompany him in the way he wanted.  He did this with a lot of young musicians, some of which are still on the scene today.  I know I will always be indebted to him.

He charted the jazz landscape.  We have a lot of nurturing and spreading to do.

John Beasley All-Star Circle – 5-minute promo film
Bennie Maupin, Buster Williams,  Jeff “Tain” Watts

We wrapped up a 3-day gig at the Jazz Bakery. Thank you for filling-up the room and your appreciation.  The band was even tighter after the Ronnie Scott’s gig in London.  We recorded one of the nights and some of the songs in full form will be up on YouTube soon.  For now, we have clips from it in a neat promo 5-min film about the band on my HOME page www.beasleymusic.com.  Check out the interviews with Bennie, Buster, and Tain. 

Deep thanks to Resonance Records for recording and editing this film…George, Ricky, Pierre, Sydney, and Anthony.  You make me look good.


6 OSCAR NOMINATIONS for Wall-E
 
Thomas Newman deserves to win.  There’s no other music like this in the other nominated films.  With no dialogue in the first half of this robot film, the music played a major role in the development of the story - evoking the feelings of the search for love and friendship…the longing to connect to someone.   Tom is a master at this, knowing when to amplify, texturize, and

I bet you that if you close your eyes and listen to the music from Wall-E the whole movie would play out in your mind.  That’s the Thomas Newman impact.

What an honor to work with Tom.  Crossing my fingers that the members of the Academy acknowledge Tom’s genius.  


The year has started quietly and humbly as we face this economic crisis.  Someone said aptly “I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails.”  Let’s make music to help us through this.

Upcoming for 2009:
-More time in New York as Lorna is back at Doctors Without Borders until June.
- Distribution of Letter to Herbie in Europe, Australia, Asia, and South Africa
- Concert tours in Europe, Taiwan, + around the U.S. – visit my website/facebook/myspace
    ….and who knows what this stimulus package has for us musicians.