Cornelius Bumpus RIP

[ReedSplitterRev]

Cornelius Bumpus died of a heart attack on the way to a gig on Tuesday. Below are links to the news release and his website.

Cornelius was a great player and I enjoyed his playing on all the Steely Dan stuff as well as the older Doobie Bros. I'm sure John L and a few others can share personal experiences.

ABC News release:
http://abcnews.go.com/wire/Entertainment/ap20040203_2626.html

www.corneliusbumpus.com

The band upstairs is getting too many, too soon.

Trevor

[Bari Gordon]

In the 80's, before Cornelius moved to New York, he lived in Murphys, CA in the Sierra foothills. He sort of "adopted" the Columbia Community College Jazz program and would sit-in on rehearsals and play frequent concerts.

After he moved, he regularly returned 3-4 times a year to play in the Jazz Artists Series. One of the highlights was the Rhythm & Blues Review Show he headlined that we took on a 5 day mini-tour. That is the show he was coming out to do.

As one of the people looking forward to playing with him, I'm still not quite getting it that he won't be here. Cornelius made us all sound so good. He sang and played beautifully and originally. He was at home with any kind of music. His tone and ideas are really one of a kind in Rock/R&B.

Every year we would catch up on what was going on in each other's lives. My daughter grew up going to Bumpus concerts. Cornelius would want to know what she was doing, or how my school year was going. There's a big empty space now, but I'm filling it up with the memories of the kind, gentle, fabulous musician.

[Kritavi]

I recall seeing Corny on the streets of San Francisco shortly before joining the Doobs. Some hellaciously great playing and (along with Sonny Simmons) the best playing I heard for spare change on the streets.
RIP

[Jerry K.]

Very sad indeed. Now I'm very glad that I got a chance to see him play this past summer with Steely Dan. After many years of enjoying their music, I finally got a chance to see them live. Wonderful show and Cornelius played really well.

[Tim Price]

Sad news indeed. My friend Jeff Presslaf used Mr Bumpus on a recording years ago-and when I heard it I was alaways wondering why Mr Bumpus did not record more as a leader.
His solos and melodic playing were exceptional.
What a soulful sound and perfect note choice.
He will be missed.