Reviewing the album from The New York Times, Nate Chinen describes, "there's...a quiet resilience in those songs".[8] Marcus Chilton, writing a review at The Daily Telegraph, replies, "Beautiful Life is a remarkable tribute".[4] Awarding the album four and a half stars at AllMusic, Matt Collar states, "Greene transforms his personal anguish into something that's as inspirational to the soul as it is beautiful to the ears."[5] Larkin Corman, rating the album four stars from The Irish Times, writes, "Even without the context, this would be a beautiful recording; knowing the background, one cannot but be humbled by its generosity."[7] Giving the album five stars for All About Jazz, Patricia Myers says, "Greene's album combines jazz with spirituals, contemporary Christian music and ballads, plus three original songs."[6] Jack Goodstein, penning a review at Seattle Post-Intelligencer, responds, "Beautiful Life is an emotionally charged musical celebration of a life too soon lost."[9] Writing a review from the Ottawa Citizen, Peter Hum recognizes, "Totalling about 50 minutes in all, Beautiful Life is a concise album in which every note speaks volumes."[10]
Jeffrey Krieger and Peter Zay – cello (tracks 3 and 9)
Michael Wheeler and Sharon Dennison – viola (tracks 3 and 9)
Leonid Sigal, Cyrus Stevens, Karin Fagerburg, Millie Piekos, Yuri Kharenko-Golduber, Candace Lammers, Krzysztof Gadawski, Lu Sun Friedman, Michael Pollard – violins (tracks 3 and 9)
