Walter Beasley is an anomaly: a successful performing musician who possesses the rare skill of understanding the musical process beyond the intuitive. This special ability enables Walter to communicate with aspiring musicians in a way that removes the sense of mystery that sometimes enshrouds our profession.

I don't care who likes it or buys it. Because if you use that criterion, Mozart would have never written Don Giovanni, Charlie Parker never would have played anything but swing music. There comes a point at which you have to stand up and say, this is what I have to do.

So much of Jazz doesn't have an audience other than music students or musicians.

There is not a sentence in the world that could respectfully do justice to the life and music of Jerry Garcia.

My job is to write songs that have emotional meaning to me.

You know, being America, being the land of "number ones", everyone wants to be a leader before they follow.

Humans are imperfect. That's one of the reasons that classical and jazz are in trouble. We're on the quest for the perfect performance and every note has to be right. Man, every note is not right in life.