RIP Jeff Jacobs

Austin post-rock darlings Explosions in the Sky came to the Great American Music Hall in November to play a benefit show for the Jeff Jacobs Cancer Fund, set up for the trumpet player and keyboardist of San Francisco spaghetti-Western-jazz ensemble The Drift. Sad to report, via both bands' label, Temporary Residence Limited, that Jacobs died yesterday, in his home state of Michigan, after a long, expensive battle with cancer.

Jacobs and his subtly ecstatic playing were an integral part of The Drift's spacious, meditative long-form compositions, once aptly compared to "stretched-out Miles Davis jams composed by Ennio Morricone," and much of the reason that band has always been so difficult to pigeonhole. He will be missed as a talented musician and, apparently, a lovely guy. Rest in peace, sir.