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Emmy
award winning composer Jeff Beal is a member of a new generation
of eclectic composers. He is fluent in the diverse languages of
jazz, classical, contemporary, electronic and world music. Beal’s
compositions can be heard in movie theaters, concert halls, CD recordings
and on television. Steven Schneider (regular contributor to the
NY Times) wrote of "...the richness of Beal's musical thinking
- the ways in which he conceives of his solos as fully-developed
mini compositions, while his compositions often capture the liveliness
and unpredictability of the best improvisation."
As a film composer, Beal scored Ed Harris’ critically acclaimed
directorial debut, Pollock. Other scores include director
Bob Rafelson’s latest feature No Good Deed, William
H. Macy’s acclaimed Door to Door, The Passion of Ayn Rand,
From the Earth to the Moon (episode 9), and the theme and underscore
for USA’s hit series, Monk, starring Tony Shalhoub.
Beal recently completed the score for Tibet: Cry Of The Snow
Lion , a documentary initiated by the Dalai Lama, which chronicles
the history and religious life of Tibet. The soundtrack will be
released in the August of 2003. He is currently collaborating with
director Jessica Yu on her feature length documentary, In the
Realms of the Unreal. Beal recently received an Emmy award
for his score to the NBC Sports division's documentary, Peggy
and Dorothy.
Beal’s concert music has been performed by many leading orchestras
and conductors, including the St. Louis, Rochester, Pacific, Frankfurt,
Munich, and Detroit Symphonies. American conductor Kent Nagano commissioned
and premiered two new works, Alternate Route for trumpet
and orchestra (Beal as soloist) and Interchange for string
quartet and orchestra (with the Turtle Island String Quartet). Turtle
Island subsequently performed and recorded Interchange with conductor
Neeme Jarvi and the Detroit Symphony for the Chandos label.
Other commissioned works include RedShift-Concerto For Orchestra
for the Metropole Orchestra, Wright Suite for clarinetist
Eddie Daniels, Clarinet Concerto for Chicago Symphony principal
Larry Combs, Three Legged Race for the American Jazz Philharmonic,
and Things Unseen for the Ying String Quartet. In 2001
Beal was commissioned by the Corning Corporation to honor their
150th anniversary with a new work for the Prism Brass Quintet. For
a recent premiere, Beal composed a full orchestral score to Buster
Keaton’s silent masterpiece The General. Future performances
are currently being scheduled.
Beal’s seventh solo CD release, Alternate Route (Unitone
Recordings) features his trumpet concerto, as well as original works
for trumpet and the Metropole Orchestra of the Netherlands, a group
with which Beal frequently writes and performs. His other jazz CDs,
including Three Graces, Contemplations (Triloka) and Red
Shift (Koch Jazz) have received critical notice, and established
Beal as a respected recording artist... "he (Beal) may even
develop into the kind of iconoclast who can blast the trumpet into
the 21st century with some futuristic new style..." (Downbeat
Magazine)
A graduate of the Eastman School of Music, Beal received his first
national attention while in college as the recipient of an unprecedented
11 "db" awards from Downbeat Magazine for his recordings
as a jazz trumpeter, composer, and arranger. Beal resides in southern
California with his wife, soprano Joan
Beal and their son, Henry.
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