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Jazz Articles about Walter Beasley

About Walter Beasley

Instrument: Saxophone

379

Album Review

Walter Beasley: Free Your Mind

Read "Free Your Mind" reviewed by Woodrow Wilkins

by Woodrow Wilkins
January 20, 2009

One knock on smooth jazz is that it really shouldn't be called jazz because it lacks any hint of improvisation. Another is that artists and producers take musicians out of the equation by employing programmers who replace bass and drums. Occasionally, an artist overcomes these negatives with solid songwriting or exceptional play. Walter Beasley accomplishes both on Free Your Mind. Beasley was a child when his aunt gave him a recording by Grover Washington Jr., a gift that ...

226

Album Review

Walter Beasley: Ready for Love

Read "Ready for Love" reviewed by Woodrow Wilkins

by Woodrow Wilkins
July 15, 2007

For Walter Beasley, the journey began in the 1970s with recordings by Grover Washington Jr. and the dynamic duo of Robert Flack and Donny Hathaway. The former opened his mind and ears to the boundless world of the saxophone. The latter offered Hathaway's voice as an icon for inspiration. With a nod to Earth, Wind & Fire's “That's the Way of the World, Beasley, barely into his teens, started on his path toward musical paradise. On Ready for ...