johnvelghe.com » music composers

We’ll find a way regardless . . . To make some sense out of this mess” RIP Jay Bennett

johnv — Wed, 27 May 2009 15:27:13 +0000

I was starting a new band and a drummer musician friend from Kansas City by the name of Bill Belzer came over to talk about playing together and recording his new solo project. Bill brought over Wilco’s new record, Summer Teeth. We played a few songs and I was blown away. I’d always liked Wilco, but in that alt-country way. This album was different. It was just more. I looked at the liner notes and saw a name I recognized; Jay Bennett.

Jay Bennett in the studio

I knew Jay from Titanic Love Affair, a band I loved because they were so Replacementsesque. I’d met Jay in Lawrence after a TLA show and really liked the guy. He was part of that mid-90s alternative millieu but avoided all the pose and bullshit so many of that crop of indie-rock guys put on. So little pretense, it was obvious music was no “shot” for him. It was his thing, it was what he immersed himself in. Music clearly made Jay Bennett enjoy life.

Jay’s work on the Wilco stuff was remarkable for what he brought to a band that had previously made pretty good songs, clever lyrics, but the arrangements and instrumentation wasn’t there yet. Jay Bennett changed all that. He made Wilco into the band I grew to love, immitate, admire, and emulate. Summer Teeth continues to be a record I go to whenever I start a new recording project. Jeff Tweedy’s clearly a great songwriter, but what Jay brought to the band in terms of instrumentation, arrangement, is what really made Wilco the amazing band they are today.

Jay died last week while I was on a motorcycle trip and incommunicado. I came back to town and found a message from a freind mourning the death of Jay. We don’t know the cause of his death, and clearly Jay was much too young to leave us. I’d been really enjoying his solo work of late and following a legal fight over the royalties to some music from his Wilco days. Jay Bennett was a loving man, the night I met him he was so kind and I half-wonder if the idea of suing his old friend and collaborator Jeff Tweedy didn’t really crush him in ways few of us will ever understand.

In the end, Jay Bennett was one of my musical heroes. He met his end in his studio, Pieholden Suites. Fitting, I suppose.

We’ll miss you, Jay.

Love, John

Winding Down a Film

johnv — Sat, 02 May 2009 16:39:14 +0000

Films are tricky animals. Comlex beasts with tentacles and teeth. Winding down the composing project becomes less a matter of creativity or musicianship and more a matter of making sure all those little details are working together.

I’m mastering the finals for “The Next American Dream.” Which means I’m at the stage in the process where it’s really easy to find things I don’t like as much anymore but the producers plan on using in the film. It’s the point at which you remember that this isn’t yours. So you just have to burnish the edges, make it sound its best, and then release it.

I’ll be anxious to see the finished product, and see if I did a good job of being unnoticed. Because that’s the mark of good writing for film.

Theme song for “Parks and Recreation”

johnv — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 15:20:57 +0000

This weekend I wrote and submitted a theme song for the new Amy Poehler series “Parks and Recreation.” It’s from the producers of “The Office.” I think the end result is a mix between the theme from “The Kids in the Hall” and “King of the Hill” and The Office.” So maybe it should be named “The Kids in the Hill Office.” Anyway…

We’ll see what happens, but until then you can check out my theme here:

http://johnvelghe.com/2009/music/Evans_DrumsHeSaid.mp3

Mac McCaughan the film composer’s sage

johnv — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 01:13:44 +0000

“One good minute could last me a whole year.”
– Mac McCaughan

When Mac McCaughan, one of my favorite song writers, wrote those lyrics, I don’t think he realized he was describing the plight of a film composer.

Fifteen minutes into scoring The Next American Dream and one thing is certain, one good minute really can last me the whole year. Without getting too much into the minutia of the process, it’s amazing how far many different directions one minute of music composition can carry you. A few well-chosen chords, and the right melody can lead you in so many different directions.

The key to the whole thing is finding that one good minute. Finding the minute in the film, and hearing what it sounds like. What song it’s singing. Then, you let that one good minute lead you through the film musically.

I’m not trying to make this sound like it’s rocket science, because it’s not. It’s not “easy” per se, it’s just that you have to listen.

Scoring “The Next American Dream”

johnv — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 17:38:31 +0000

So I’ve been asked to score a documentary. It’s called The Next American Dream. (this is the trailer I scored) Of course I accepted. The film, set to air on PBS in April, is a documentary about how we will build our environment in the future. It features Chris Lienberger of the Brookings Institute

The question is, how does one compose music for the future? Or I guess, how does one conceive of a soundprint for what America will be like in 50 years?

Right now, where we sit, with all the ugly news, it sure seems like the tendency is to write something dark. But I’m an optimist now aren’t I?

What I know now is that we’re looking at America as a family. A great big family full of good and . . . well . . . mistakes. And families have a past, a present, and a future. Families all have their share of mistakes and screwups. We all have our crazy uncles, and bizarre moments in our history.

So a lot of what I’m thinking about for the score is built around the music of family. I think that will always be there. The kind of music a family surrounds itself with will change, but it will always be there. The instruments may change, the songs will be varied, but they’ll be an ever-present part of how we continue down this experiment we call America.

It’s a great opportunity, and when I think about it in the terms of America as family it seems much more promising.