The centennial of Miles Davis’s birth is May 26, 2026 and all year a variety of top artists are commemorating the occasion with concerts and recordings: Branford Marsalis, Emmet Cohen, Marcus Miller, Terence Blanchard, and more. One of those artists is Grammy Award-winning pianist John Beasley, who was a member of Davis’ band. Beasley has launched a 14-city international tour entitled Unlimited Miles – Miles Davis at 100 that stops at Birdland in New York for a residency from March 31-April 4. Beasley has assembled a top-notch group, including Kurt Rosenwinkel, Sean Jones, Marcus Strickland, Mark Turner, Ben Williams, and Terreon Gully for the project. The group will record their upcoming Blue Note Tokyo sets and create a TV special, live album, and DVD from those dates. It’s a busy year for Beasley who will also have a variety of big band, orchestral, and solo piano concerts to honor Davis, John Coltrane, and Herbie Hancock in 2026.
Beasley played keys for Davis on tour in 1989 and has fond remembrances from the experience. He chats about those, plus his Monk’estra albums, his forthcoming new album with SWR Big Band Invisible Piano, Walter Becker of Steely Dan, and more. The full video interview is available at WBGO’s YouTube channel.
