In memoriam: Jay Bennett (1963-2009)

Doing what he did best.

Sorry, folks.  I gotta get sappy for a sec.  Any musician who I respect and passes on affects me.  Thankfully the last time this happened at the magnitude that a blog entry was necessary was back in February with the death of Lux Interior, and at that point, this blog wasn't even functioning.  I just feel obligated to contribute to the tributes.

Yesterday and today have been unfortunate days for the music community, as it's lost one of the progressive voices for one of its finest bands.  Former Wilco member, multi-instrumentalist Jay Bennett, who played in the band from its inception in 1994 through the release of one of this decade's most acclaimed albums, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot in 2002, was found dead yesterday afternoon at his home in Illinois at the age of 45.

Bennett, more than anything, served as the innovative, forward-thinking foil to Jeff Tweedy's roots-rockin' traditionalist.  Although Tweedy wrote of the songs, Bennett was a primary architect of Wilco's sound, particularly on Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and seemingly exclusively on 1999's Summerteeth, a pop masterpiece removed almost exclusively from the alt-country sound that Wilco initially embodied.  For more on my thoughts on Wilco, check out the kinda crappy reviews I wrote about a year and a half ago for my first blog attempt, which wound up being nothing but five Wilco reviews.  Whatta band.

Bennett left the group due to increased creative tensions between himself and Tweedy after the YHF label debacle that stalled the album's release.  Since then, Wilco has kept going, temporarily hiring producer Jim O'Rourke to fill-in for Bennett's spot on 2004's A Ghost is Born, which is a damn fine album, albeit one that loomed meekly under the shadow of its predecessor.  Regardless, the band hasn't reached the musical peaks set when Bennett was an active member of Wilco, and I'm not sure if Wilco The Album will be able to do the trick.

Bennett, after leaving Wilco, worked on several solo albums, one of which will remain incomplete due to his untimely death.  His passing, however, comes at a curious time.  Not only are Wilco releasing a new album (apparently, THE album), but Bennett sued Tweedy earlier this month for breach of contract with regard to the albums he made with the band and his appearance in the excellent documentary that chronicled the creation of YHF, I Am Trying to Break Your Heart, presumably to pay for hip replacement surgery he needed due to one-too-many stage dives he took as a young'un.  This issue suddenly came to a tragic conclusion.

Below are some clips of Bennett working with the band, notably the first one, a clip from I Am Trying to Break Your Heart where Bennett helps the group shape "Poor Places," which might be my favorite Wilco song.  In one article I read, he was described as a "mad scientist," constantly twiddling knobs and relentlessly sculpting sound to his liking on stage and in the studio, and he always seemed to have a cigarette in his mouth, a look he was able to pull off quite well.  Jeff Tweedy once sang, "You have to learn how to die / If you wanna be alive."  I guess Jay Bennett studied a bit too hard.  He will be missed.