PRESS PAGES

Audio Interview -(4/26/05) Listen online to Jeff's interview with the Visions In Sound radio program.

Pollock Reviews from Other Sites - Filmtracks, Cinemusic, Soundtrack Express, Film Score Monthly

Pollock Interviews Soundtrack Magazine Interview AP Article Variety Article

Jeff's given a detailed online interview about his film scoring techniques and ideas in a Garritan Orchestral Strings forum.

Press Quotes

He may owe to Miles for his sound, and Gil Evans for some of his arranging currents, but Beal continues to grow into his own.... He might even develop into the kind of iconoclast who can blast the trumpet into the 21st century with some futuristic style of jazz. DOWNBEAT

"To watch Lisa Rinzler's expressive shots of Harris as Pollock create his paintings, especially the famously acrobatic drip canvases, to Jeff Beal's Aaron Copland-influenced music is little short of thrilling." Kenneth Turan - Los Angeles Times

Overall, the suite offers a better case for concert-hall jazz than many a “Jazz at Lincoln Center" Fair. JAZZIZ, on Beal’s “Kenny Barron Suite”

**** Movies are not unlike children, in that they should be seen and not heard -- meaning that if a movie's soundtrack really works, you shouldn't even notice it. That definitely goes for "Pollock." Jeff Beal's score is so well-integrated into actor/director Ed Harris' bio-pic that you might leave the theater without remembering a thing about the music. But the soundtrack holds up superbly on its own, and it doesn't become apparent just how well it fits the film until you consider it as a separate entity. The News and Observer

on Beal’s symphonic works: The result has all the excitement and interaction of a jazz performance with the power, depth and tonal richness of the orchestra - quite an achievement. OAKLAND TRIBUNE

"Sharp, staccato string cycles and tuned percussion dominate a score that is at once austere in its emotions and surprisingly nostalgic in its evocations." Pulse Magazine

"Jeff Beal's soundtrack, composed in a scintillating 7/4 time, contributes to a virtually flawless juxtaposition of light and sound throughout the film, but is brought to the forefront as Pollock composes the mural." The Observer Newspaper

Beal’s solo acoustic piano moves through the dark passages of the soul, full of the liquid spaces you might have heard in Chick Corea’s old Solo Improvisations (ECM) recordings.
One of the top 100 CDs, CD REVIEW

Jeff Beal has contributed a bouncy, whimsical score that is an indispensable part of the film’s texture, reinforcing the Film’s overall European style... offers much of the off-beat circus flavor of Nino Rota’s scores for Fellini. (Cheap Shots review)
JACK GARNER - Film Critic

The centerpiece, Jeff Beal’s Concerto For Jazz Bass and Orchestra is a beautifully expressive three movement piece....Artistically, It’s an unqualified success. DAVID YONKE - Music Critic

"Ed Harris and his directorial hand dyes this peculiar American legend with Technicolor hues (thanks to director of photography Lisa Rinzler and production designer Mark Friedberg) and the musical palette of Jeff Beal's jazzy score and plucky theme music. You won't find a touch of sentimentality around, just troubling truths aching for an audience." Nitrate Online

Beal shows a rare ability to hold onto and develop a single idea without losing it’s focus. KEYBOARD MAGAZINE

Jeff Beal interjects his piano-based pieces with soul and substance, giving new meaning to the often empty concept of contemplative music. PULSE Magazine

Beal always has something worthy to say as he searches for and finds traces of the divine in everything he plays. NEW AGE JOURNAL

...the young trumpeter incorporates certain aspects of the master’s style...but these effects are merely sonic springboards for personal explorations delivered with the sensitivity and power that’s becoming the recognizable voice of Jeff Beal.
JAZZIZ

Jeff Beal is forever moving into new musical territory...he’s a flexible trumpeter who revealed his jazz-fusion/world music stance on Objects in the Mirror, and his hearty post be-bop, electronic-tinged jazz side on Three Graces with its Miles Davis flair. LA TIMES