A busy freelance musician since the 1950s, Beal played with big band leader Woody Herman and, on records, backed Judy Collins, Nina Simone, Bette Midler, Luther Vandross, Audra McDonald, Gloria Estefan, Wynton Marsalis, and Paul Simon. Beal has been most active performing on Broadway, in concert, and even for operatic works. He played for Leonard Bernstein's Mass in 1971 and for the 1978 chamber opera Dr. Heidegger's Fountain of Youth. He played double bass for Philip Glass on the albums Koyaanisqatsi, Songs from Liquid Days, and DancePieces ("In the Upper Room"), as well as the prelude to the 1984 stage version of Samuel Beckett's Endgame. He frequently accompanied Barbara Cook in solo concerts, played on-stage accompanying An Evening with Patti Lupone and Mandy Patinkin (2011), and in th