Jeff Beal
Known for synthesizing improvisatory and composed elements, composer and trumpeter Jeff Beal weaves strands of jazz, classical, and new age tradition into his complex yet always accessible music. He also orchestrates, conducts, records, and mixes his own compositions, giving his music a very personal, distinctive touch. This is evidenced on solo jazz and orchestral recordings including 1998's concerto for orchestra entitled Red Shift, 2000's Three Graces, 2018's House of Cards Symphony, as well as on 2024's The New York Études for solo piano and on his film and television soundtracks. Among the five-time Emmy winner's most high-profile scores are his work on the TV series Monk, Carnivàle, and House of Cards.
Beal was born June 20, 1963, in Hayward, California, and began studying the trumpet in the third grade. He wrote his first long-form composition while he was a student in high school, and his merging of improvisation and classical composition would become his professional signature. He studied composition and trumpet at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, graduating in 1985. Beal then moved to New York City, where he recorded 1988's Liberation, for Island Records, the first of several solo albums. His Island follow-up, Perpetual Motion, arrived a year later. He moved to the Triloka label for his next four albums: 1991's Objects in the Mirror, 1993's Three Graces, 1994's Contemplations, and 1996's The Gathering, the latter of which featured his wife, vocalist Joan Beal. Rounder issued his 1997 LP Alternate Route. Recorded with the Metropole Orchestra, his Red Shift: Concerto for Orchestra was released by Koch in 1998.
After Beal relocated to Los Angeles, his skills at writing accessible orchestral compositions that allowed room for improvisation found him more steady film and television work, and he landed Ed Harris' directorial debut, Pollock, in 2001. Highlights of his subsequent film work that decade included Harris' Appaloosa, the William H. Macy romantic comedy The Deal, and a handful of Tom Selleck made-for-TV Jesse Stone mysteries. In the meantime, he won Emmys for his theme to TV's Monk and for his work on the 2006 Stephen King mini-series Nightmares & Dreamscapes.
The following decade brought more entries in the Jesse Stone franchise, documentaries such as 2017's Boston and An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power, and work on the hit Netflix series House of Cards (2013 to 2018). His suspenseful mix of jazz and classical music for the show received season-by-season soundtrack releases by Varèse Sarabande, and in 2018, BIS issued his House of Cards Symphony featuring the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra. Meanwhile, Beal's film credits included such projects as the documentary The Biggest Little Farm (2018) and the basketball drama Inside Game (2019).
In 2020, Notefornote released Beal's score for the documentary Jay Sebring: Cutting to the Truth, following it a year later with his soundtrack for the comedy Breaking News in Yuba County. Another documentary, 2022's GameStop: Rise of the Players, featured a Beal score, and in 2024, he released The New York Études. A home-recorded set of ten solo piano études, the latter album was inspired by his relocation to New York City three years prior.
© Steve Leggett & Marcy Donelson /TiVo
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Athlete A (Music from the Netflix Documentary)
Educational - Released by Categorical Records on 8 Dec 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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House of Cards (Theme from Tv Series)
The Original Television Orchestra
Film Soundtracks - Released by Tam-Tam Media on 6 Oct 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Company (Original Television Soundtrack)
Film Soundtracks - Released by Madison Gate Records on 5 Aug 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Light Falls: Space, Time, and an Obsession of Einstein (Original Theatrical Production Soundtrack)
Film Soundtracks - Released by Node Records on 17 May 2019
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Appaloosa (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Film Soundtracks - Released by Lakeshore Records on 16 Sep 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Moss Anthology, Variation 5
Classical - Released by Categorical Records on 19 May 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
He Was A Quiet Man (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Film Soundtracks - Released by Categorical Records on 7 Apr 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Salvage Men
Classical - Released by UNQUIET on 22 Jan 2016
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
The Champions (Original Score)
Film Soundtracks - Released by Categorical Records on 27 Jan 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Apollo 50: Go for the Moon (Original Score)
Film Soundtracks - Released by Categorical Records on 15 Apr 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Jay Sebring...Cutting To The Truth: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Film Soundtracks - Released by Notefornote Entertainment on 30 Oct 2020
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Blackfish (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Film Soundtracks - Released by Categorical Records on 17 Jul 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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The Radiant Pearl
Jeff Beal, Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra
Oriental Music - Released by Categorical Records on 2 Dec 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bigger (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Film Soundtracks - Released by Lakeshore Records on 2 Nov 2018
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Jeff Beal: The Paper Lined Shack
Classical - Released by Supertrain Records on 24 Jun 2022
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
We Breathless Stand
Jeff Beal, United States Army Field Band
Classical - Released by Categorical Records on 26 Feb 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Long Road Home (National Geographic Original Series Soundtrack)
Film Soundtracks - Released by Varese Sarabande on 12 Jan 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Frantic Beauty
Ambient - Released by Categorical Records on 16 Sep 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo