keyboardist

Jim Beard, a keyboardist for Steely Dan, has died at 63, according to multiple reports.Beard, a musician also known for his collaborations with jazz legends including Pat Metheny, John McLaughlin and Wayne Shorter, died in a New York City hospital on Saturday, Deadline reports, citing a representative of Beard.According to the representative, Beard died from complications due to a sudden illness, the outlet reported.Born in Ridley Park, Pennsylvania, in 1960, Beard moved to New York in 1985 to pursue his musical career.…

Jim Beard, a Grammy-winning keyboardist, composer and member of Steely Dan since 2008, died Saturday in a New York hospital of complications from a sudden illness, a publicist announced. He was 63. Beard had been touring with Donald Fagen’s Steely Dan on the Eagles’ current “Long Goodbye” tour; his final performance was Jan. 20 in Phoenix. Beard worked alongside such jazz legends as Wayne Shorter, Pat Metheny and John McLaughlin and recorded with the likes of Dizzy Gillespie, The Brecker…

Over the last 60 years, keyboardist Lonnie Liston Smith has made an artform out of countering some of jazz music’s loudest heavyweights with a soft, sensuous sound. His is the gently radiating electric piano or undulating organ backing bandmates including Miles Davis, as well as the the hard-blowing free-jazz saxophonist Pharoah Sanders and energetic multi-instrumentalist Rahsaan Roland Kirk.As a bandleader since the 1970s, Smith has explored spiritual themes with dancefloor grooves and free-flowing improvisations,…

Martin Duffy, who played keyboards for Primal Scream and Felt, has died aged 55, his former Charlatans bandmate Tim Burgess has confirmed.Duffy was born in Birmingham on 18 May 1967 and grew up in Rednal.He joined the indie band Felt in 1985 after frontman Lawrence put up a notice in the Birmingham branch of Virgin records advertising for a guitarist that read: “Do You Want To Be A Rock ‘N’ Roll Star?” and a man recommended Duffy.Duffy played on Primal Scream’s first two albums, 1987’s Sonic Flower Groove and 1989’s…