Articles

Jeff Coffin with Caleb Chapman's Crescent Super Band: The Inside of the Outside

By Jack Bowers

The first time woodwind artist Jeff Coffin heard Caleb Chapman's Crescent Super Band, he was greatly impressed--so much so that he decided to record an album with the band. You may be impressed too, especially upon learning that the Super Band, which sounds for all the world like a professional (or advanced university) ensemble, is actually comprised of high school students whose ages range from fifteen to eighteen. And in spite of its New Orleans-sounding pedigree, the Super Band is ...

Jeff Coffin And The Mu'tet: Into The Air

By Bruce Lindsay

Jeff Coffin has held down jobs with two of the highest-profile bands in contemporary American music, with Béla Fleck = 6 733 and The Flecktones from 1997 to 2010, and with the Dave Matthews Band since 2009. High profile bands have busy schedules, but the saxophonist has also found the time to run his Mu'tet since 2001. Into The Air is the band's sixth album: a funky, goodtime collection whose ready accessibility and danceable grooves sound so easy that they ...

Jeff Coffin Mu: Bloom

By Mark Sabbatini

Plenty of musicians load up on all-star and eclectic personnel for what are promoted as genre-smashing albums. Saxophonist Jeff Coffin is among the relative few who actually delivers on a level most people can relate to.

His multi-ensemble, multi-genre Bloom visits Dixie, freeform, world, folk, and other styles, interpreting with an authentic and modern voice instead of merely adding an accent to standard contemporary fusion. Not everything soars all the time, but there's little questioning Coffin's sincerity.

Jeff Coffin Mu'tet: Bloom

By Matt Merewitz

Saxophonist Jeff Coffin is capable of so much. But I've wondered why he doesn't stick more to the Trane-inspired post bop, which he does so well. I guess you gotta make a living these days and if having a sound that borders on the cheesiness of Michael Brecker, Ed Calle, and the late Bob Berg is the price you pay, well, I guess I'm OK with that for the following reasons. The Nashville-based musician makes up for it in his ...