Jim Hodder
December 17, 1947 – June 5, 1990
Jim Hodder is best known as the original drummer for Steely Dan. He joined the group in 1972 and played on the classic albums, Can’t Buy A Thrill, Countdown To Extacy and Pretzel Logic. He left the band in 1974 and went on to be a session player, working with such artists as Sammy Hagar and David Soul. Jim Hodder drowned in his swimming pool in 1990. He was just 42.
Walter Sear
1930 – April 29, 2010
Walter Sear was a composer, musician, and inventor who is perhaps most celebrated as a pioneer of the music synthesizer. He began his career in music as a classical tuba player and eventually launched a successful business where he imported and sold tubas from a shop in New York City. During the early ’60s, he partnered with synthesizer inventor, Robert Moog to help him perfect and market the first commercial synthesizers. Sear went on to make synth recordings for motion pictures such as Midnight Cowboy. He also ran his Sear Sound recording studio in New York City for many years. Over the decades, artists like the Beatles, Paul McCartney, Sonic Youth, Steely Dan and Wynton Marsalis called upon Sear to outfit them with vintage synthesizers. Walter Sear was 79 when he passed away on April 29, 2010.
Cornelius Bumpus
January 13, 1946 – February 3, 2004
Cornelius Bumpus is best remembered as the saxophonist for the Doobie Brothers and later, Steely Dan. In 2000, he won the Best Album Grammy for his work on Steely Dan’s Two Against Nature. As an in-demand session player, Bumpus has performed or recorded with the likes of Michael McDonald, Jeff Lorber, Lacy J. Dalton, Patrick Simmons, Phoebe Snow, Ambrosia and Boz Scaggs. While flying from New York to Los Angeles for a gig, Bumpus suffered a fatal heart attack. He was 58.
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