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Heinie Beau (March 8, 1911 – April 18, 1987) was an American jazz composer, arranger, saxophonist and clarinetist, most notable for his swing clarinet work and recordings done with Tommy Dorsey, Peggy Lee, Frank Sinatra and Red Nichols.

Early life

Beau was born in Mount Calvary, Wisconsin. His parents and all eight siblings played various instruments. At the age of 15, while still in high school, he joined the family dance band, the Wally Beau Orchestra, which played at numerous venues in the Midwest during the 1930s and 1940s. Beau's brothers Wally and Harvey, along with sister Marie, were part of the group, along with other musicians such as Rollie Culver.

Career

Living in Hollywood, California, Beau worked as an arranger and musician on television, radio and recordings, including contributing classic charts to Sinatra's Capitol repertoire. Beau wrote the big band arrangement of "Lean Baby", the first single Sinatra recorded for Capitol in 1953. Beau had also recorded extensively in Europe, touring areas such as London.

His work can be heard on an early Ella Fitzgerald recording of "Would You Like to Take a Walk?", along with Dave Barbour and his Orchestra, on Decca from 1951. In 1958, he recorded Moviesville Jazz for Coral. Beau arranged and conducted for composer Wayne Shanklin on the 1959 hit, "The Big Hurt", for Toni Fisher on Signet Records, arranged and conducted on Fisher's Signet LP, and released an English version of Marguerite Monot's "Milord" as "Your Royal Majesty". He ghost-arranged for Axel Stordahl and Billy May on Frank Sinatra recordings.

In 1980, he and his wife, Grace, formed their own label, Henri Records, and recorded three albums entitled Hollywood Jazz Quartet in 1980, Blues for Two with Eddie Miller in 1982 and Midnight Clarinet with Bob Havens in 1984.

Personal life

Beau married Grace Burleton, of Oakfield, Wisconsin, in 1936. They had two daughters, Marguerite and Claudia. He died in Burbank, California.

References

1. ^ Colin Larkin, ed. (1992). The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music (First ed.). Guinness Publishing. p. 202. ISBN 0-85112-939-0.
2. Feather, the late Leonard; Gitler, Ira (2007-04-01). The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-988640-1.
3. Schwartz, Jonathan (1995). "Sinatra: In the Wee Small Hours". In Petkov, Steven; Mustazza, Leonard (eds.). The Frank Sinatra Reader. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 249. ISBN 0-19-509531-6.
4. "HENRY (HEINIE) BEAU - The Washington Post | HighBeam Research". 16 April 2016. Archived from the original on 2016-04-16. Retrieved August 14, 2021.
5. "Jazz, Big Band Clarinetist Henry Beau Dies". Apnews.com. Retrieved August 14, 2021.

• Big band clarinetists
• Swing saxophonists
• American jazz clarinetists
• American jazz saxophonists
• American male saxophonists
• 1911 births
• 1987 deaths
• People from Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin
• Musicians from Wisconsin
• 20th-century American saxophonists
• 20th-century American male musicians
• American male jazz musicians