• A very special Sheryl Crow autographed guitar (red Fender Telecaster)
• Shure’s top-of-the-line noise-cancelling earbuds
• A studio-quality microphone from RND/Fingerprint Audio
• Jay Bennett concert posters and memorabilia
• Other surprises still coming in!

Visit JBF often for further details, and happy bidding! Thank you for your support from the Bennett family and the Jay Bennett Foundation!

The money will support three young students taking instrumental music lessons. The Foundation is exploring a longer-term relationship with Rock For Kids, possibly including a Jay Bennett Guitar Scholarship Fund. Stay tuned for announcements of future grants.

Concertgoers not only enjoyed the music, but had a wonderful chance to share memories of Jay with friends and family. This evening was truly a celebration of Jay’s life and music, with an underlying very important cause. The event raised over $1,400 for the Foundation from admission fees and merchandise sales. These funds will be used to further Jay’s lifelong passions of music and education. Anyone who ever met Jay knew of his love and devotion to both of these ideals.

For those who missed it, a limited number of event T-shirts are available to anyone who makes a donation of $50 or more to the Jay Bennett Foundation (while supplies last).

This is one of my favorite videos….

I hope you enjoy…

And remember that on Saturday, September 25 at the Subterranean (Chicago IL) there will be a special night celebrating the life and music of our dear friend, Jay Bennett. This event doubles as a fundraiser for the newly formed Jay Bennett Foundation as well as a record release for Jay’s new album, Kicking at the Perfumed Air. Show starts at 6pm and costs $10… All proceeds benefit the Jay Bennett Foundation

Jay’s Notes-

[transcription]
The original goal, 10 songs, 12 hours, start to finish (written, preformed, recorded) that turned into 24, and then 36, but 11, not 10 songs- with 11 songs, figured, could resurrect a few unfinished originals (they ended up being damn near re-written any ole way) and do a few covers, in this case, one of my favorite songs ever- still unreleased (yes, I have their permission) by the Outlaw Family Band, my favorite Boom Town Rats song (didn’t have the lyrics, hope I got them right) and a gorgeous woody Guthrie lyrics, had set to music for Mermaid II (why didn’t it make the cut??), and I can’t forget to note my cowrite with coconspirator and fellow traveler Edward de Burche’- though his band does it better… well the timer was set, the lights we’re turned off, the candles light, the stove shoveled full of coal, my bullshit detector re-set, my perfectionist tendencies left at the gate for a day and a half, maybe forever?- hopefully?

I let the music come, and I listened- did I make it?

[transcription]
No windows were closed, no heat or AC, the refrigerators were turned off, even the large window overlooking the frequently used loading dock was left open, though I finally did turn my cell phone off, sorry. No doors were closed or roommates told to keep quiet. No dead time between instruments played only occasionally was “cleaned up”. No instrument was miked up with any particular regard for the ideal or textbook placement- many times, simply set a level to tape without even listening to what was “hitting tape”. Mics, preamps, and compressors were all good ole tube shit ( to be honest, in a few cases- new tube shit, or good ole discrete analog), oh yeah equalizers- there were none. But I hail the old plate (warm and distorted) reverb, elevator shaft, echoey hallway. Of course the signals went to my Sony/MCI JH24 2” 24 track (the only piece of gear well aligned before this experiment)- the parameters were defined- the canvas shrunken- the list of permitted instruments drawn up, and even laid out.

[transcription]
No, the electricity to run the recording gear was not solar, hydro- electric or geothermal, but the instruments were all wood, wire, and whatever else vibrating in air, no electricity to power them, no amps, no effects, no nothing. My beloved Mellotron, Epiphone Riverea, AC30, B3, and Ludwing Ringo kit were all sent away on holiday, though they wrote home frequently taunting me: “do ya need me yet, do ya give in” When I was done I mixed to… oh yeah mastering? Whats that?…

Instrument list, in order of appearance.

Rogers Snare Drum (year?, thanks Bob)

Kay plywood upright bass

Kay mandolin

Honer harmonicas (B flat, A, C blues harp)

E1 Centenarian multi key

Guinness promotional C

Old standby G

Epiphone Sevllie nylon guitar

Piano Baldwin spinet personaly painted baby blue, donated by the Majestic Theater in Detroit

G2 Gibson lg1 Acoustic

National Duolian (1930s?) resophonic

Martin 12 string 1960s

Harmony Bakelite Banjo 5 string

A piece of a broken Hohner Concentina

Guild 12 string (1970s)

Various old Tambourines/ boxes/ broken cello bodies

[exception: hohner clavinet (9v power, electric bass, on “hey butterfly”)

Cowbell

Gibson Country and western (52)

The Jay Bennett Foundation will launch on May 24 on JayBennett.org, Facebook (facebook.com/jaybennettfoundation) and Twitter (@JayBennettFdn). On July 10, fans will be able to support the JBF by downloading Jay’s latest album. The download of Kicking at the Perfumed Air is free, but donations are accepted and will benefit the foundation or one of its partner charities. On that date, Kicking at the Perfumed Air will also be available for purchase as a CD via the site, with a percentage of the proceeds going to the Foundation.

“Those of us who loved Jay lost a son, a brother, a collaborator and a loyal friend. The world lost a gifted musician, thoughtful song-writer and uniquely creative force in the studio who was always working to make music better,” Jeff said. “This album is part of a larger effort to honor Jay’s memory and enhance his legacy by exposing more people to his music and by supporting charitable efforts to make the world a better place.”

To fans, Jay Bennett was a master melodicist, artful arranger, exceptional engineer, and mesmerizing multi-instrumentalist. To me, Jay was all of those things, but he was also just Jay. He was the guy who would replace the brakes on my car because it was cheaper than taking it to the mechanic. And he was the friend who began making an album with me in 1994 because it seemed like something to do–and, for me, it was cheaper than therapy. The fruits of those labors would see the light of day in 2002, when Jay and I released The Palace at 4 am (Part 1) with Undertow Records. The tours for that album at times played like a foul-mouthed Smothers Brothers for the new millennium, and when we’d finally grown weary of the sound of our own banter, we would eventually get around to what drew us together in the first place: playing songs we wanted to sing. Specific tales of those tours will eventually be shared, but the best part was that it introduced us to many new friends.

Jay followed Palace with two more releases for Undertow in 2004: Bigger Than Blue and The Beloved Enemy, far more sparse and intimate efforts than our all-bells-and-whistles-on-deck debut. These albums were primarily recorded at Jay’s Chicago studio: Pieholden Suite Sound. As his collaborations with David Vandervelde intensified, Jay began the work on what would become his 2006 release for Ryko, The Magnificent Defeat. Prior to the mixing and mastering stages of that album, Jay returned to his de facto home of Urbana, Illinois, bringing his Pieholden Suite Sound with him. With the help of friends and hired guns, Jay turned a gutted storefront into the studio of his dreams (O, what I wouldn’t have given to have the meticulously organized patch bay he included in his new studio back when we were making our recordings).

It was in the new Pieholden studio that Jay produced Whatever Happened I Apologize (2007) for Rock Proper. Eschewing the usual channels of music distribution, Jay decided to put this album out for free as a high-quality download. Sadly, and unexpectedly, it would be the final album Jay would release during his lifetime. At the time of his death in May 2009, Jay was in the final stages of completing Kicking at the Perfumed Air. It is a Herculean task to attempt to “finish” an album in someone’s absence. The album as it stands is indeed a collaborative effort of monumental proportion, brought together by folks whom Jay would trust to do the job. Between Jay’s notes, emails, and conversations as recalled by his friends (which, as you might imagine, contained equal measure of complement and contradiction), Kicking at the Perfumed Air represents, if not the album Jay had intended to share, most certainly an album of which he would be proud.

Hopefully, in the weeks and months that follow, we will uncover even more of Jay’s musical legacy to share. For now, we hope you will enjoy Kicking at the Perfumed Air.

Edward Burch

Austin, Texas

March 2010