Garrick Sinclair Beckett;
Daniel Gordon Beckett, Jr.
Influences
His father, Daniel Gordon Beckett, Jr.;
His private instructor, Irving Feldman;
Sonny Rollins,
John Coltrane,
Gerry Mulligan,
Wynton Marsalis,
Sounds Like
Anything a person hires him to play from classical, to jazz, to Christian. However, his composed classical music has influences from Gustave Holst and David Maslanka. His jazz is more so of the style Sonny Rollins plays with, as well as some John Coltrane in between.
Garrick Sinclair Beckett (a.k.a. Ricky) was born in Royal Oak, Michigan on January 31, 1990. His father, Daniel Gordon Beckett, Jr., played in several Christian bands throughout his childhood, Rhev 21 and Times 7. As a child, young Ricky would watch his father play the piano at home and the keyboard and saxophone in his Christian bands. Amazed at his father's ability to play the saxophone, he was inspired to pick up the alto saxophone at the age of 8 and learn how to play on his own, with some instruction from his father. Two years later, in 6th grade, he began taking private lessons with Irv Feldman and continued so for several years. He soon switched to tenor saxophone his 7th grade year. His freshman year of high school he participated in the Plymouth-Canton Educational Park Marching Band. His freshman and sophomore year he was in the school's Symphony Band, the second highest band of the four at the high school(s), playing the tenor saxophone. His junior and senior year he was in the school's Wind Ensemble, the highest band of the four, playing the baritone saxophone. During his senior year of high school, he quit the marching band but came back as a Drill Commander, for the band was in need of another Drum Major.
While Ricky was eight, he began arranging music, starting with recognisable movie themes, such as "Jurassic Park" and "E.T., The Extra Terrestrial." Soon, he began composing his own music, however egregious. Throughout the years, he made a lot of revisions for each of the pieces he wrote until he became so fed up with them that he eventually threw each of them away. He eventually gained music theory training and went on a musical composition frenzy, composing symphonies and pieces for brass ensembles. His classical music has a mix of Gustave Holst and David Maslanka's style of music — very dark and often very fast and difficult to play, utilising dissonant chords and other rhythmic and chord progressions that throws the audience off. His jazz compositions are a mix of Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane — often bittersweet and occasionally fast. He has never written down any jazz compositions; he keeps them all in his head. It is currently unknown why he refuses to write any of his jazz compositions down.
Currently, he resides in Plymouth, MI with his father and Canton, MI with his mother. In his future career, he hopes to play in one of the U.S. Army bands and travel a lot, getting his degree in Jazz Studies. After, he may play on cruise ships. Overall, he wishes to travel, playing his music, and hopes to eventually conduct the classical compositions he has composed with professional bands/orchestras.
hey i was out all yesterday, sorry i didn't respond. and my phone was dead so i didnt get your text till late late last night when i got home. i work tomorrow so i can't do anything before 5. and i'm not out of school yet for that matter [: i still have to do school thursday so thursday is no good. i'll give you a call when i'm off. i get off at 3 today
you may have texted me back, i should go find my phone. i'm sad i couldn't see it. i wish you would have told me earlier! that sounds like a ton of fun!! i'm off to find my phone.
