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Jim Beard
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.
He has produced dozens of recordings for artists such as Mike Stern, Bob Berg, Bill Evans, Eliane Elias and others. Jim has sat in the producer's chair for projects that have included Chick Corea, Al Jarreau, Medeski Martin and Wood, Bill Frisell, Marcus Miller, Richard Bona and Esperanza Spalding. His work can be heard on Sony Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Blue Note, Verve, Columbia, NBC, ABC, and CBS/Sony. Jim has taught and continues to teach at renowned music institutions around the world such as the Mason Gross School of Arts, Berklee College of Music, Aaron Copland School of Music and the Sibelius Academy in Finland.
Jim has recorded six solo CDs; “Song of the Sun” in 1990 that featured Wayne Shorter and Michael Brecker, “Lost at the Carnival” (voted in top 10 new CDs by Jazziz Magazine critics) in 1995, “Truly” (voted in top 10 new CDs by Jazziz Magazine critics) in 1997, “Advocate” in 2000, "Revolutions" in 2008 (song Grammy nomination 2009) and "Show of Hands" in 2013..
Jim's music productions and compositions have been nominated for seven Grammy awards and Jim won a Grammy in 2007 as a featured performer on 'Some Skunk Funk' (Randy and Michael Brecker).
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Mike Stern: Echoes and Other Songs
by Neil Duggan
Echoes and Other Songs is guitarist Mike Stern's first release since the loss of pianist, friend and confidante, Jim Beard in March, 2024. Beard, perhaps best known for his association with Steely Dan, appears here as pianist, keyboardist and producer. Stern is still on the long road to recovery following a fall in 2016 that broke both his arms and left him with nerve damage. He has adapted his technique and now uses a homegrown solution to hold his pick ...
Continue ReadingMike Stern: Echoes and Other Songs
by Doug Collette
With a running time of seventy-seven minutes plus, guitarist Mike Stern's Echoes and Other Songs is effectively a double album. And like most such expansive works--including classics like Bob Dylan's Blonde On Blonde (Columbia, 1966) and The Beatles (aka 'The White Album')(Apple, 1968)--it would benefit from consolidation of its best elements (as would a replacement of the amateurish cover design). Even so, this is still a deceptively ambitious piece of work. Of course, advanced thinking has virtually always ...
Continue ReadingMusical Tribute To Jim Beard Plus New Releases
by Len Davis
A tribute to musician and producer Jim Beard, featuring his own work and also with Bob Berg and Oz Noy. New music from Lyle Workman and trumpet player John Fumo. From Brazil Joseph Olivera and from Canada Gustavo Carmo. Benjamin Croft with Frank Gambale and Argentinian band Streams. We get a little laid back with some cool stuff from David Garfield with his latest single and the band Tea featuring Neil Larsen.Playlist Jim Beard Bakers Annex" from Song Of ...
Continue ReadingSteely Dan's Jon Herington and Jim Beard
by Mike Jacobs
In memory of Jim Beard, this article was first published at All About Jazz on July 6, 2017. While keyboardist / producer Jim Beard and guitarist Jon Herington are both solo recording artists with long and varied careers that straddle jazz, rock and beyond, they may be best known these days for being longtime members of Steely Dan's current touring band. They have also been close friends for nearly 40 years. They sat down for a conversation as ...
Continue ReadingJim Beard: Holodeck Waltz
by Mike Jacobs
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 his first record and quickly cement his place among them. ...
Continue ReadingJim Beard: Grace In The Bubble
by Mike Jacobs
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 solo debut Song Of The Sun (CTI, 1991), this track from his sophomore release, Lost At The Carnival (Lipstick, 1995), shows it off as ...
Continue ReadingJim Beard / Jon Herington: Chunks And Chairknobs
by Mike Jacobs
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 friendshipwork up a duo set and mount a short tour together. The lion's share of those resulting arrangements tackling a mix of Beard originals, Herington ...
Continue ReadingStein Inge Braekhus
drumsSonu Sangameswaran
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Blue in the 2nd Degree
From: A Rose In The CanyonBy Jim Beard