Biographyby Scott YanowA versatile pianist who has been featured in a variety of settings, John Beasley has been an asset to many different projects. He grew up in Texas to a very musical family. His grandfather played trombone in territory bands and was a junior high school band director for 50 years in Arkansas; his mother led bands and taught music, while his father was a jazz educator at North Texas State University. John Beasley began piano lessons at age eight, but did not become serious about music until he was a teenager. He played guitar, drums and saxophone in local rock bands and even oboe in his high school orchestra, but he eventually switched back to piano and started playing jazz. In 1977 his family moved to Los Angeles and Beasley played both jazz and R&B locally. In 1980, he started working and touring with Sergio Mendes, an association that lasted several years. Beasley became a busy studio musician, producing music for several television series. He spent six years as a member of Freddie Hubbard's quintet, toured with Miles Davis in 1989, has gigged in many different situations in the Los Angeles area, and recorded two albums as a leader for Windham Hill Jazz in the early '90s. Cauldron was issued in 1991 and Change of Heart followed two years later. The new millennium also saw Beasley back again, releasing Surfacing in early 2001.