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All Music Guide:
Best known as the Doobie Brothers' saxophone player from 1979-1982 (and again in 1989-1990 and 1995), Cornelius Bumpus came to the group after stints with Bobby Freeman and a re-formed Moby Grape. Bumpus first struck out on his own as a recording artist after the Doobies' breakup in 1982, releasing A Clear View later that year. Beacon followed in 1984, after which Bumpus returned to the familiar role of sideman and session musician. Bumpus moved from San Francisco to New York in 1986, and went on to play with acts as diverse as Boz Scaggs, fusion star Jeff Lorber, and country singer Lacy J. Dalton. In 1993, Bumpus joined a reunited Steely Dan, with whom he gigged into the new millennium. Additionally, Bumpus released his first smooth-jazz album Known Fact in 2000.
Wikipedia:
Cornelius Bumpus (May 7, 1945 – February 3, 2004) was an American woodwind, keyboard player and vocalist from Santa Cruz, California.
He began his career playing alto saxophone at ten for the school band and by 12 was playing at Luso-American dances. In 1966 he was in Bobby Freeman's band and after this he began his associations with well-known groups.
His role in these bands was primarily as a saxophonist. His most notable work would be with the Doobie Brothers and Steely Dan. In 2002 he worked on the Big Blue Earth project sponsored by the Church of Christ, Scientist. Bumpus enjoyed a short tenure with Café Society, a Los Angeles pop band, during the 1980s where he played in a horn section with the trombonist Dan Levine and trumpeter Anne Petereit King. In 1981, Bumpus issued his first solo LP, A Clear View, which featured his singing, writing and sax playing, stretching out with the band on several, long, jazzy jams over 6 minutes each. Bumpus died of a heart attack in 2004 while on a flight from New York to Los Angeles, aged 57.
