Jay Bennett

Jay Bennett died in his sleep Saturday night, of causes yet to be determined. He was 45. Bennett suffered chronic hip pain for many years, having injured himself from a dive off a stage in the '90s when he was performing with his band Titanic Love Affair. I'm going to spend the rest of my night listening to his work. His love of music came through in every sound he explored: pump organ, prepared piano, Wurlitzer, Omnichord, Mellotron, piano loops, guitars and Leslie banjos -- and that's just on Yankee Hotel Foxtrot!

Multi-instrumentalist and former member of Wilco Jay Bennett died this weekend, according to a post on the website for Undertow Music Collective. A cause of death was unknown. “We are profoundly saddened to report that our friend died in his sleep last night. Jay was a beautiful human being who will be missed,” read the update on Undertow. The company released his 2002 solo album, “Palace at 4 am (Part I).”

Representatives from the label and management firm had not responded to requests for comment as of Sunday evening, but the Chicago Sun-Times reached Bennett’s friend and collaborator Edward Burch. "Early this morning, Jay died in his sleep and an autopsy is being performed," Burch told Jim DeRogatis. In the late ‘80s, Bennett founded the rock band Titanic Love Affair in Urbana, Ill., which lasted into the mid-‘90s. He was best known for his seven years in adventurous rock act Wilco.