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All Music Guide:
An R&B-ish player whose music sometimes crosses over into jazz, Walter Beasley's sound is a perfect paradigm for defining "contemporary" or "smooth" jazz, and he a talented musician. After briefly playing trumpet, Beasley switched to saxophone when he was nine and was soon inspired by Grover Washington, Jr. He attended Berklee College and, after graduating at age 22, became one of the school's teachers. In 1987, Beasley released his first self-titled album and since then has recorded two sets for Mercury and several for Shanachie (culminating with Rendezvous in 2002), in addition to often accompanying R&B singers. In 2005, he released his debut for Heads-Up, For Her. In 2006, Shanchie released Live, a concert club set from 1998. The studio album Ready for Love followed in 2007.
Wikipedia:
Walter Beasley is an American saxophonist, a professor of music at the Berklee College of Music, and founder of Affable Publishing and Affable Records.
Biography
Beasley grew up in El Centro, California. By the age of 13 he was singing in Spanish in a band called Los Elegantes, and he played in various bands and performed at clubs throughout middle and high school.
Beasley graduated from Berklee in 1984, and a year later took a short-term teaching position at the same school, which became a permanent career. He is now professor at the school.
In 1987, he released his first, self-titled, album, and since 1998 has been one of the top ten best-selling African American saxophonists in the world. Having grown up as a fan of R&B and funk and trained in classical and jazz saxophone, his own style falls between contemporary R&B and contemporary jazz, a blend which has been called "smooth jazz".
He is not only an alto and soprano saxophonist and a singer, but also a composer and producer. He is the founder and CEO of Affable Publishing, and the owner of Affable Records.
