Department of Music : Faculty

Andrew Beals

Adjunct Instructor of Music
Applied Jazz Saxophone/Jazz Combos/Frankensax/Jazz Improvisation

Andrew Beals

Andrew Beals joined legendary Jazz Organist, “Brother” Jack McDuff and the “Heatin’ System” in 1986.  Beals became the latest in a long line of Jazz Saxophone greats, including: Sonny Stitt, Gene Ammons, Red Holloway, Joe Henderson, Joe Lovano, Harold Vick, and Rahsaan Roland Kirk, to work with Jack McDuff.

Andrew Beals’ fourteen-year tenure in Jack McDuff’s band was marked by a busy performance schedule, which included lengthy tours of North America and Europe. Andrew Beals is a featured soloist and arranger on Jack McDuff’s compact discs for Concord and Summit records.

Andrew Beals began his recording career as a leader with his compact disc “Gravy Train” on NASMusic Records. Andrew Beals has appeared as a leader of his own band and as a featured soloist with Jack McDuff, and others, at many renowned Jazz clubs and festivals (see attached).

Beals was a semifinalist at the 1993 Thelonious Monk Jazz Saxophone Competition; and in 1998 he was awarded the prestigious NYU Jazz Orchestra Scholarship for graduate studies in Jazz performance and composition. Andrew Beals is currently an Adjunct Professor of Jazz Saxophone and Jazz Improvisation at Western Connecticut State University (W.C.S.U.) and a woodwind instructor at the Pleasantville High School.

He received his Bachelor of Arts Music degree at Livingston College, Rutgers University, and has a Master of Arts Music degree from New York University.  His teachers were Paul Jeffery, John Stubbelfield, Frank Foster, George Garzone (saxophone) and Jim McNeely (composition).

Discography

  • Gravy Train, Andrew Beals (First record as a Leader on NASMusic)
  • Brotherly Love, Jack McDuff  (featuring Pat Martino, Red Holloway, Joey DeFrancesco, and Grady Tate) Concord Records
  • Write on Capt’n, Jack McDuff Concord Records
  • Heatin’ System, Jack McDuff Concord Records
  • It’s About Time, Jack McDuff (Featuring Joey DeFrancesco) Concord Records
  • That’s the Way I Feel About It, Jack McDuff Concord Records
  • Bringing it Home, Jack McDuff (Featuring George Benson, Grady Tate, and Red Holloway) Concord Records
  • As Real As It Gets, Jack McDuff, Summit Records
  • Boogaloo To Beastie Boys, Scufflin’ Records
  • Seventh Sense, Doug Proper(Featuring, Joe Beck, and John Ambercrombie)
  • Swingin’ is Believin’, Neal Smith NASMusic Records

 

Contact: bealsa@wcsu.educreate new email