BENNIE BEACH was born in Mississippi in 1925 and did his undergraduate work at Delta State College; he earned two graduate degrees from George Peabody College in Nashville. His composition teachers included Roy Harris, William Schuman, Ernst Krenek, and Nicholas Slonimsky.

Beach performed professionally as a jazz musician, and in 1950 began a 20-season tenure as trumpeter with the Nashville Symphony. His jazz career included performing with his own bands as well as with Glenn Miller and Count Basie. In 1953 he began a long association with Western Kentucky University where he taught theory, conducting, brasses, and composition until retiring in 1981. His music has been heard in venues as diverse as Carnegie Hall and the American Embassy in Saigon. Bennie Beach died in 2016.

last updated March 29, 2020
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