"The best known and possibly the very best traditional Jazz musician in these parts,
Jim Beatty, plays a magic clarinet ...
"

- The First Book of Oregon Jazz

When Carolan Gladden wrote those words in her book, she summed up the feeling that people have after listening to Jim Beatty's music. With over fifty years at his art, Beatty has recorded several albums, toured extensively and lectured in schools, as well as appearing in clubs across the United States, Canada, Great Britain, China and Europe. His playing is invariably fresh, smooth, exhilarating and free. As reviewer Steve Blackburn said in Jazz Scene, "He offers a 'tour de force' in style and technique with solos that speak of the great New Orleans players. His playing brings back that 'inspired abandon' of jazz's forefathers ...he should be included among the ranks of the great soloists of the decade".