Walter Beasley

Man.

Walter Beasley.

Walter.

65 Bounce.

Walter coming out of California, by the way.

El Centro, California.

Walter Beasley.

He's a brother? Is he a brother?

And- ... was just an amazing positive force, and so was, um ...

I studied with Walter Beasley there for a while as well.

He was, like, another-- He kind of shaped my, like, entire philosophy and approach to the horn, you know, and, and, and, and what I do.

And a, a lot of the stuff he taught me.

...

when it was hard.

And I, you know, like, I flew back to Boston, and I, and I interviewed Walter Beasley to talk about my album.

And like, you know, it was difficult back.

What happened when you finally found that thing that felt like your language?

So, learning music at Santa Monica College, I was lucky enough to be there when this gentleman, Walter Beasley, was a professor.

And he just was really passionate about classical music and Bach.

And we learned... really the basics, the cornerstones of Western harmony.

And then... making a lot of calls, but you know, actually really honestly, everything is word of mouth.

And again, bringing your best self to anything, anything.

I had a gentleman who was from an island nation and it was very upbeat music.

While we were working, I even, I would just let him practice like his timbale work before we went and recorded like the drum parts or they, the drum fills.

And then he certainly did go on to be very, very influential.

So artists like Kirk Wallum, Steve Cole, Walter Beasley, Najee, Bonnie James, that kind of smooth and acid jazz of the late 1990s and into the early 2000s.

He was extremely influential on that sound.

Yeah.