Invisible Piano John Beasley & SWR BIG BAND

• 1 Concentric 05:05
• 2 Woman with Chariot 05:31
• 3 Galaha 05:16
• 4 Invisible Piano 07:25
• 5 Danseur Espagnol 05:46
• 6 Fire and Rain 04:37
• 7 Can't Hide Love 04:43
• Total Runtime 38:23

Info for Invisible Piano

Invisible Piano is a bold, behind-the-scenes journey into the creative mind of GRAMMY-winning pianist, composer, and arranger John Beasley. Commissioned by the SWR Big Band, Beasley was given a rare invitation: begin at the piano, improvise without boundaries, and transform those raw sparks into sweeping, orchestrated works.

The first musical sketches emerged in an unexpected place: the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart Museum. Moved by the visual art surrounding him, Beasley began quietly singing melodic ideas into his iPhone—capturing inspiration in the very moment emotion met imagination. Among the works he encountered was a painting by Max Ernst titled Invisible Piano. The image lingered in his mind, eventually becoming the conceptual anchor and title for the album. These early fragments became the seeds of a deeply personal exploration into how music begins to take shape.

At the heart of the creative process is the Steinway Spirio, a revolutionary player piano capable of recording and reproducing every nuance of performance. As this technology merged with Beasley’s expansive musical thinking, Invisible Piano evolved into a study of how musical ideas echo, mutate, and find form—not only in sound, but in shape, color, and structure. Each track offers a window into that transformation: instinct becoming architecture, jazz language unfolding into symphonic dialogue. The album features five original compositions and two arrangements by John Beasley, who also serves as conductor and pianist alongside the SWR Big Band.More than an album, Invisible Piano is an immersive portrait of musical alchemy—where echoes become form, shapes become sound, and imagination becomes real.

Terrence Blanchard, Musician and Composer, 8x GRAMMY Winner, 2x Oscar Nominee –

“What you hear on this record is the sound of a mind in motion – raw musical thoughts taking flight and becoming something orchestral, cinematic, and deeply human. It’s the space where intellect meets emotion, where risk meets refinement. This is fearless work and nothing short of remarkable. And it’s exactly what the future of music should sound like.”

SWR Big Band
John Beasley, piano, musical director
Special Guest:
Magnus Lindgren, flute

John Beasley SWR Big Band Composed (Track 1-5), Arranged & Conducted by John Beasley
Mixing and Mastering: Klaus-Peter Schöpfer
Producers: John Beasley and Hans-Peter Zachary
Executive Producer: Uwe Hager
Production Coordinator: Lorna Chiu
Recorded 3-6 June 2023 at SWR Funkstudio, Stuttgart, Germany

The SWR Big Band
based in Stuttgart, is one of Europe's leading jazz orchestras and renowned for its world-class musicianship, stylistic versatility, and collaborations with leading artists from around the globe. Invisible Piano is the ensemble's second album with John Beasley, following their critically acclaimed project Bird Lives, which received three Grammy nominations and won Best Arrangement in 2021. Beasley and the SWR Big Band continue to push the boundaries of jazz for large ensembles with bold, imaginative works, including another upcoming project called Secrets with Lionel Loueke.

John Beasley
Pianist, composer, and arranger John Beasley has built a genre-spanning career bridging jazz, classical, pop, and film/TV music. A musical shapeshifter with deep jazz roots, he rose to prominence in his 20s performing with Miles Davis and Freddie Hubbard, and has since collaborated with artists including Dianne Reeves, Christian McBride, Chaka Khan, Chucho Valdés, and Steely Dan.

Beasley’s acclaimed recordings include the 2x GRAMMY® winning, 14x nominated MONK’estra trilogy, Bird Lives, Returning to Forever, El Trio, Maria Mendes, and Positootly! and two Latin GRAMMY nominations, reflecting his wide-ranging impact as both a composer, arranger, and producer.

As Music Director for the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz, Beasley leads the globally broadcast International Jazz Day gala concerts, staged in cities including Istanbul, Havana, Osaka, and Tangier, with Chicago hosting in 2026. His musical direction for Jazz at the White House earned an Emmy nomination.

In 2026, Beasley will mark the centennials of Miles Davis and John Coltrane through five major projects. Central among them is Unlimited Miles, a new ensemble he will lead on a global tour beginning in March. In collaboration with Marcus Miller, Beasley will reimagine Tutu and Amandla with the Metropole Orkest. He will conduct Hamburg’s NDR Big Band playing his reimagination of Filles de Kilimanjaro, and with Frankfurt’s HR Big Band featuring Isaiah Collier, he will explore the music of Coltrane. In Sweden, Beasley will mark the triple centennials of Miles, Coltrane, and Stockholm’s Konserthuset Concert Hall by revisiting the repertoire from historic concerts Miles and Coltrane performed at the legendary venue. In between, Beasley will continue to tour with Dianne Reeves and squeeze in a gig with his own MONK’estra.

Upcoming releases include Invisible Piano with the SWR Big Band, recorded on a Steinway Spiro (o-tone music), and Unlimited Miles: Live from Blue Note Tokyo (Mack Avenue Records). When not touring, Beasley collaborates closely with 15-x Oscar-nominated composer Thomas Newman, contributing to major film scores including Skyfall and Spectre, and joining Newman on the upcoming Star Wars feature.

This album contains no booklet.