Max Beesley has spent three decades straddling the worlds of music as a drummer, vibraphonist and keyboardist, and acting in TV and film, with a disarming ease that makes stagecraft look deceptively effortless.
Whether under the glare of studio lights or centre stage in a live venue, Max delivers the same promise – not only a talented performance, but also a real desire for the audience to have a great time. His body of work and industry reputation reflect this thesis.
As a musician, Manchester-born Max has shared big stages and recording studios with even bigger names, including Stevie Wonder, Robbie Williams, George Michael, Chaka Khan, James Brown, Earth, Wind & Fire, Paul Weller and Jamiroquai.
His film and TV work began in 1983. Max starred in hit US TV dramas “Suits” and “Empire”, the British TV favourites “Hotel Babylon”, “Mad Dogs, “Survivors” and “Bodies”, Guy Ritchie’s Netflix hit “The Gentleman”, and many other successful productions in the US and UK.
Now he is packing his bags at his Hollywood home in the US and heading to London for a set of gigs that mean the world to him: four sold-out shows at the end of November at the world-famous Ronnie Scott’s jazz club. And this time, it’s personal…
“This is the first time I will be headlining Ronnie’s with my own band, and I’m really, really honoured. I mean, I’ve played there many times over the years; The first time was [as a teenager] in 1985 with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra. But I’ve never played there with my own band”, he says.
Adding: “We’re playing our first album as Max Beesley’s High Vibes, called ‘Zeus’, and it’s the gig I would have loved to have done when the album came out [September 2023]. When I recorded it, I knew this album has to be played live. But the calendar at Ronnie’s was completely full.
“There were a few other venues that came up but there was something synonymous with Ronnie’s and this album, and London, and my upbringing, and playing there as a youngster. It was the right venue to do it…and two years later it’s the world premiere of the music!”
It feels like the most carefully baked recipe. Although this will be the first time the High Vibes ensemble has played live together in its current line-up, Max has fronted the band, and played its eponymous vibraphone, for more than 30 years.
“We’re playing some tracks that I sort of didn’t want to really, but then realised: this has had half a million downloads on Spotify… And then I’m like: when did we last play that? Oh, it was Dingwalls [A legendary venue in London’s Camden Town] in 1991.
“I will land in the UK and have a day to recuperate, and then we’re straight down to Paul Weller’s studio, Black Barn, in Surrey. We have two days with the musicians to get the set together, and then we’re playing four sold-out shows,” Max tells me.
“It’s only two days, but these boys are world-class musicians so we’ll be fine. And I think the way people approach the work is very much as I’ve always approached it – you just do your homework, learn the set and get 80 per cent of the way there. Then you get into the band room, and top-and-tail everything.”
Max’s description of “world-class musicians” is no exaggeration. Joining him are a number of musicians with whom he has played over the years: US Grammy-nominee artist Christian Sands on keyboard, Jerry Meehan [Adele, Ed Sheeran, Kylie Minogue] on bass, Charlie Allen [Tom Misch, Wizkid] on guitar, Karl Vandenbosch [Simply Red, Gorillaz, Mark Ronson] on percussion, Darren Abraham [Jimmy Page, Mica Paris, Sugababes] on drums, with Tom Walsh [BBC Big Band, Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Orchestra], Nichol Thompson [Tina Turner, Annie Lennox] and Graeme Blevins [Taylor Swift, Mark Knopfler] providing a blistering triumvirate horn section.
I’m pretty much the same age as Max – he is 54 – so I knew him as a musician first and foremost. After all, he was a cheery fixture in the late-1990s, thanks not only to his musicianship but also to a few high-profile dating scenes. And who could forget his energy on stage, on both piano and percussion, at the ‘biggest music event in British history’ – a record-breaking three nights at Knebworth in 2003 with his long-time close pal, Robbie Williams.
But a whole new generation knows Max better as a star of both small and big screen, and I wonder if he set out to travel both paths, or if the universe has simply had bigger plans for him. “Good question. I started out absolutely wanting to be a session musician, to work with and record and tour with different artists. And I did quite a lot, worked with quite a lot of people I’d always wanted to work with.
“And then I watched ‘Raging Bull’. And I didn’t just think: oh that’s great, I want to do that. It was more that I felt sorry for the character that [Robert] De Niro was portraying, Jake LaMotta, even though he was such an animal of a man. And I just thought that’s very clever. That’s an actor giving me a multi-faceted character, that’s so good but how has he done that?
“And I mean, I’m picking like one of the best actors in the world, obviously, but I was intrigued by how he had done this. And I’ve always liked acting and always loved films, and I thought – I want to give it a go. So I went to New York and studied with a phenomenal coach called Sheila Gray.”
I smile, as Max embodies one of my favourite mantras: don’t be surprised how quickly the universe acts once you have decided. And, sure enough, a successful acting portfolio beckoned…but at a price.
“Back then you had to be totally focused on one job to be taken seriously. I remember saying to my agent: you know, I do music, how do we work it? But I didn’t tell her what I was doing – that I was in the studio with George Benson, and I’d just got back from Berlin playing drums for George Michael. I didn’t think I needed to explain that I was doing well as a muso, you know?
“And she said: ‘oh, you can’t do music if you’re going to be acting. You won’t be taken seriously as an actor, so that’s got to stop.’ So, okay, I focused on the acting. And it was an art form I had to learn, because I wasn’t as advanced as I was as a musician, and I loved that. I suffered badly from perfectionism (which I don’t any more, thank god) and that constant striving propelled me. I was hungry to learn more and more.
“But music was always there, always teetering away in the background. Now and then I would score something or guest for someone on an album, or even play live with someone else’s band.
“And then during covid, I was doing some writing with [High Vibes band member] Jerry, a phenomenal musician who’s also one of my best friends from Chetham’s School of Music [In Manchester where Max was a young student]. And he pointed out that whenever we went into a studio together to write, I would do the scoring and he would end up behind a computer.
“He suggested this was not fair, and I would have to learn how to work Logic [music production software]. I’m more pencil-and-manuscript, and for 20 years I’m like: bro, I haven’t got a clue, I don’t want to get into computers. But, on his instruction, I learned how to use Logic”
He adds: “And of course, then I’m thinking: why don’t I just start getting some sounds up and I’ll make an album. So I made the demos for the ‘Zeus’ album, and Jerry convinced me there is still a market for instrumental music and not a lot of vibes players. Really? Okay. I sent my demos to a few guys I know who are really at the top of their game, musicians and producers like Steve Gadd and Dean Parks – and they came back and said: so when do we record? Incredible!
“We were due to record the album as a live album, but one of the guys got covid and we decided it would be safer not to mask-up and go into the studio together. And, in hindsight, that was a really smart thing for me because then I could work one-on-one with each musician [Steve and Dean; Jerry, Christian, Nichol and Tom from the live ensemble at Ronnie Scott’s; along with Luis Conte [Madonna, Eric Clapton, James Taylor], Walt Fowler [Ray Charles, Diana Ross] and Mike Davis [New Wonders, Dan Levinson]. This way I actually could produce the album properly.
“Just as well, really; I was a bit in awe of the whole thing. We were in the famous Village Recorder studios in Santa Monica, and basically we’ve got a Steely Dan / James Taylor band in there! It was insane, man. I was a little bit scared of them, which is natural, obviously, when you work with those calibre musicians. So recording one-on-one gave me a chance to ask each musician for what I actually needed, rather than just being in awe”.
Ironically, having earlier been told the acting world wouldn’t take him seriously if he were a musician, now Max finds the opposite fear is giving him a few healthy butterflies ahead of his London gigs.
“I am nervous, definitely nervous. I went into the acting world, didn’t I – and I’m grateful that I had quite a good reputation as a musician but even so, there will be some punters in there thinking: what’s going on with him?
“So I’ve been putting the time in. In fact, I’ve been shedding on the instrument so much that I got tendonitis and had to take four weeks off.
“And that’s one of the two things I think about nerves – whether it’s for a gig or for acting: you’ve got to prepare. It’s the 5Ps: Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance.
“And the second way I deal with nerves is to remember that if I go into this thinking: I hope I play great, and I hope I look great on stage, and I hope people think ‘wow, he’s steaming’….that’s ego, and then I’m fucked. I’m in trouble. But if I go into this feeling like I’m being of service, giving the punters a chance to turn off from the world for a bit, then the nerves will go out of the window.”
Honestly, I was not expecting a good chinwag about mindset matters with Max, but this has much to say about strength of character as well as the rigour and discipline of work.
“We all need to do the inner work, man. We all need the tools. I do my meditation, and we have to, don’t we; the world’s quite a miserable and stressful place.
“I’ve lived in America for more than 25 years and at one stage of my life I jumped into all of that, the shrinks and stuff. And my brother [Gary] is a practicing Buddhist [who even had an audience with His Holiness the Dalai Lama], and he’s an amazing guy. He was a monk and lived down in Tibet, and I’ve watched him and admire him greatly”.
I muse that all this work to protect his energy might explain how Max seems to remain sane and grounded in the maddest of environments, and I ask if he could transport forward 30 years, would 80-year-old Max be proud of the man talking to me right now? He does not let me off my assumption without a challenge.
“Oh yeah. And by the way, I don’t know if I actually am sane! But yeah, he’s proud. He’s proud of me. And he’d probably say: see, I told you it would be all right.”
This calming advice and encouragement gleaned from future-pacing with one’s elder self feels liberating to me. Without wishing to sound trite…let it go. Max agrees.
“I think when we face adversity, and those waves are coming at you daily. If you hold on to labels of anxiety and panic and decide that’s who you are, you’re fucked. I think there has to be non-attachment, to anything at all. And occasionally you just have to ask what your own history tells you: oh yeah, we’ve always been okay really. And let go of all those wave-like thoughts, especially the bigger the waves. If you’re in it and you try to ride it, you’re in trouble. You’ve got to have distance, and look at it all with intrigue.”
Perhaps not surprisingly, I get the impression that the biggest impact on his moral compass comes from the two smallest people in Max’s life – daughters Sabrina (12) and Isabella (7). “They take precedent over absolutely everything,” Max tells me in a voice thick with emotion. “Sabrina and Bella are the barometer by which I act in my life and choose what I do.”
Ignore the accolades and critical acclaim. ‘Daddy’ is surely the single best and most demanding role Max will ever play. “Without any shadow of a doubt. And it’s the most fulfilling as well. I know everyone says their kids are amazing, but my daughters are absolutely phenomenal. They’re challenging, and they surprise you with questions that you thought would be two years away…but my girls are imbued with kindness. They are paramount kindness, that’s their gig.”
Might Sabrina and Bella be the third generation of performers in this family, a fine tradition started by Max’s parents, actor Maxton Beesley Sr and jazz singer Chris Marlowe? “Both girls are phenomenal dancers. My wife [Jennifer] is a dancer, and the kids have a natural gift for it.
“They are musical too, but my elder daughter has got that controlling dynamic from me so she will not let me teach her. I was working away at the beginning of the year, and when I got back she was playing piano and I asked her where she learned it. From the iPad apparently! I said: why don’t you just let me teach you, Sabrina? No. She won’t have it. But that’s cool, that’s all right.
“One of the hardest things to accept as a parent is that they’re not just like us at all. There’s nature versus nurture, isn’t there, and we can guide our children, but they are their own people.”
To wind up our conversation, I ask Max what more he wants to do; what more could he add to a rather dizzying oeuvre of work?
“Well, I want to continue doing really good acting jobs, because I really love it. And I’ve written two screenplays and I really want to get those made. One’s in turnaround in the UK, and we’re trying to raise money here for the other one. I really have spent a lot of my life developing them.”
Max co-stars in “Hijack 2″ with Idris Elba which is on Apple TV from 14th January 2026, and he shot the new Jack Ryan movie, with John Krasinski, Sienna Miller and Wendel Pierce earlier this year, to be released sometime next year.” He continues with his desired “to do” list: “And I want to do more producing. And to tour more music – getting out on to the road with great musicians, who also are friends of mine so we can have a nice hang and then go out and share music with people.
“There is quite a lot to be done, and I’m mindful that I’m 54. But you know, my old man’s 80 and he does a gig every week with his jazz trio, schlepping all his gear in and out of the car, so…..
“For me, it’s really just: what’s next? Because the other thing is, this is just so quick. I can so easily jump back to specific years because I remember what job I was doing – like 1997 was ‘The History of Tom Jones, A Foundling’, so I remember we were filming in Dorset and Somerset and I remember who I was hanging out with. Or ‘Bodies’, I know that’s 2003 and I was filming in Leeds. And honestly, filming ‘Bodies’ was 30 seconds ago to me. And if I look ahead the same number of years that have passed since then, I’ll be in my mid-70s.
“And this is a good reminder for me. It’s why spending any time at all worrying is completely futile. This is all so fleeting, man.”
Max’s zest for life shines as bright as the Californian rays in his garden, where he sits for our Zoom call. And it’s a passion for what is simply the next act in a career – and a personality – that refuses to stand still.
- EXCLUSIVE: “I’ve recorded a few tracks for the second High Vibes album, with Paul Weller co-producing. It’s going to be a great record.”
- Read our five star review of “Zeus” here: https://musicrepublicmagazine.com/2023/11/max-beesleys-high-vibes-zeus-boogie-back-records-august-25th-2023/
- Read Max’s “Track Record” here: https://musicrepublicmagazine.com/2023/12/max-beesley-actor-musician-track-record/
Words by Lucy Boulter
