Walter Beasley almost seems to good to be true.
How can you top one of the most highly regarded contemporary sax players who continues to hold down a full-time teaching job at his alma mater, The Berklee College of Music, and develops special DVDs for musical instruction.
» Where: Rams Head On Stage, 33 West St., Annapolis
» When: 8 p.m. Sunday
» Tickets: $33.50
» Info: 410-547-SEAT, ticketmaster.com
“Everything in today’s society is so ‘bam bam,’ ” Beasley said. “People don’t take the time to reach back and help others. Someone did it for me, and now I want to do it. I take education seriously.” Indeed, he does. The man called the “heir to Grover Washington Jr.’s throne” not only has earned kudos for his classroom teaching but also for his highly regarded instructional materials, both formal and informal, including a blog on his MySpace page.
“I try to keep a blog of practice tips and share them with everyone,” Beasley said. “Everything that made me better É I want to share. Every generation is smarter [but needs such input].”
That’s apparent by some of the contemporary music that often features foul language and a lack of polish, he said.
“The singing reflects the immaturity of the singers,” he said. “It isn’t about age. Marvin Gaye was in his 20s when he was singing [what became classics].”
In a way, though, MySpace gives Beasley some solace because of the number of musicians who reach out to him and the number who put their music on the site.
“There are serious musicians all over and they have advantages today. They don’t have major corporations holding them down,” he said. “And things are coming back around. Never been a time in my life when a student said he loves Run MC, Korn, Michael Jackson and even Public Enemy. É I think the responsibility is now on the musicians to reach out more.”
Certainly that’s what Beasley does with his education and his discussion about his work, including the critically acclaimed 2007 CD “Ready For Love,” which features the contemporary jazz tunes for which he’s known. But Beasley also mixes it up a bit, including a reggae number and showing his vocal chops on “Be Thankful for What You’ve Got.”
While the kudos are welcome, Beasley also hopes his success will guide the way for some of his students.
“What kind of artists am I trying to train?” he said. “The kind of artists that understand one note, one fan is critically important.”
