{{short description|American jazz musician}} {{Infobox musical artist | name = Heinie Beau | birth_date = March 8, 1911 | birth_place = Mount Calvary, Wisconsin, U.S. | death_date = April 18, 1987 (aged 76) | death_place = Burbank, California, U.S. | alias = Henry Beau | genre = Jazz | instruments = Clarinet, saxophone }}

'''Heinie Beau''' (March 8, 1911 &ndash; April 18, 1987)<ref name="LarkinGE">{{cite book|title=The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music|editor=Colin Larkin|publisher=Guinness Publishing|date=1992|edition=First|isbn=0-85112-939-0|page=202}}</ref> 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.<ref name="LarkinGE" />

== 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.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Feather |first1=the late Leonard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KEHGs88c-aAC&dq=Heinie+Beau+Wisconsin&pg=PT351 |title=The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz |last2=Gitler |first2=Ira |date=2007-04-01 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-988640-1 |language=en}}</ref>

== 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.<ref name="LarkinGE" /> 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.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Schwartz |first1=Jonathan |editor1-last=Petkov |editor1-first=Steven |editor2-last=Mustazza |editor2-first=Leonard |date=1995 |title=The Frank Sinatra Reader |chapter=Sinatra: In the Wee Small Hours |location=New York |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=[https://archive.org/details/franksinatraread00petk/page/249 249] |isbn=0-19-509531-6 |chapter-url-access=registration |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/franksinatraread00petk/page/249 }}</ref>

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.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-1319122.html|title=HENRY (HEINIE) BEAU - The Washington Post &#124; HighBeam Research|date=16 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160416015914/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-1319122.html|access-date=August 14, 2021|archive-date=2016-04-16}}</ref> He died in Burbank, California.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Jazz, Big Band Clarinetist Henry Beau Dies |url=https://apnews.com/article/85ce8ecc2bc246fa0459ead8195a0d4c |access-date=August 14, 2021 |website=Apnews.com}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

{{Clarinet}} {{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beau, Heinie}} Category:Big band clarinetists Category:Swing saxophonists Category:American jazz clarinetists Category:American jazz saxophonists Category:American male saxophonists Category:1911 births Category:1987 deaths Category:People from Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin Category:Musicians from Wisconsin Category:20th-century American saxophonists Category:20th-century American male musicians Category:American male jazz musicians