Jim Beard, a Grammy-winning keyboardist, songwriter and member of Steely Dan since 2008, died Saturday in a New York hospital from complications of a sudden illness, a publicist said. He was 63 years old.
Beard was touring with Donald Fagen's Steely Dan during the Eagles' current “Long Goodbye” tour; its last performance was on January 20 in Phoenix.
Beard has worked alongside jazz legends such as Wayne Shorter, Pat Metheny and John McLaughlin and recorded with Dizzy Gillespie, The Brecker Brothers, Dianne Reeves, Meshell Ndegeocello and Steve Vai during his career.
He has produced for Chick Corea, Al Jarreau and Esperanza Spalding and has taught at institutions including the Mason Gross School of Arts, Berklee College of Music, the Aaron Copland School of Music and the Sibelius Academy in Finland.
Beard has recorded six solo CDs spanning the years 1990 to 2013 and won his Grammy in 2007 as the album's featured performer. A bit of Skunk Funkby Randy and Michael Brecker.
Beard was born on August 26, 1960, in Ridley Park, Pennsylvania. He attended Indiana University and worked with artists such as Connie Stevens, Roger Miller and Bobby Rydell before moving to New York in 1985.
Survivors include his children, Victor and Caitlin; his mother, Sarah; his sister, Nancy; and his brother, Bill.
Metheny called Beard “one of the rare people whose vision of the past is comprehensive enough to take him into the future, and with a very refined and subtle musicianship at work, he is a musician whose every new release looking forward to it. .”