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*MUTOPIA...AVAILABLE ONLINE & IN STORES NOW! JC Mu'tet's new CD "MUTOPIA". FEATURING: Futureman on ACOUSTIC Drums, Felix Pastorius on Electric Bass, Kofi Burbridge on Flute/Keys. Other guests include Bela Fleck, Victor Wooten, Alana Rocklin, Chris Walters, Joe Murphy, Rod McGaha, Barry Green, Roy Agee, Black Cat Sylvester, R. Scott Bryan, Doug Belote and Pat "Happy" Bergeson...more info will be posted at WWW.JEFFCOFFIN.COM
*Charlie Peacock/Jeff Coffin "Arc of the Circle" is Number 2 on the CMJ Jazz Charts! (5/08)
*Jeff Babko/Jeff Coffin/Vinnie Colaiuta CD available at www.abstractlogix.com NOW!
JC BIO:
Jeff Coffin, well-traveled saxophonist/composer, and two-time Grammy Award winning member of Bela Fleck & The Flecktones, rejects all labels and categories other than "music" and "musician."
Since 1997, Coffin has traveled the world with the Flecktones, performing with musicians of all walks. Some of those he has shared the stage and the recording studio include such diverse artists as The Dave Matthews Band, Branford Marsalis, DJ Logic, New Orleans Social Club, McCoy Tyner, Baaba Maal, Mike Clark's Prescription Trio, Chris Thile, Garth Brooks, Phish, Van Morrison, J.D. Souther, Vinnie Colaiuta, The Dixie Chicks, Bob Moses, Konger Ol Ondar, Stanton Moore, Brooks and Dunn, George Porter Jr., Umphrey's McGee, Del McCoury, John Scofield, Yonder Mountain String Band, Marc Broussard, Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Wailers and many, many others. Along the way, Coffin has absorbed an astounding range of influences. "Whether it be New Orleans Second Line, African music, Indian Ragas, folk songs, Alan Lomax field recordings, jazz, or funk," he says, "the spirit and breath of the music is what I take away from listening and playing. It's what decides for me whether I like it or not."
Known for sometimes playing alto and tenor sax simultaneously, with a nod to Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Coffin seeks out the extraordinary in his saxophone sound and in his technique of improvisation. Reaching for the unique is something Jeff makes an integral part of both his playing and teaching. In addition to the Flecktones, Jeff also leads his own group, The Mu'tet which takes it's name for the word mutation, giving way to Jeff's belief that music is constantly changing and mutating.
Jeff Coffin has played on hundreds of recordings, and has performed around the world including a 2007 performance at the esteemed Carnegie Hall with the Flecktones. As a highly in demand clinician, Jeff has presented clinics from Farmington, Maine to Perth, Australia and is also an internationally acclaimed Yamaha and Vandoren Performing Artist since 2000.
ABOUT MUTOPIA (July 2008)
The idea for this recording had been bouncing around in my head for a while and I felt like it was a matter of certain elements lining up to make it happen. I was able to get Roy “Futureman” Wooten (also of the Flecktones) on drumset, Kofi Burbridge (Derek Trucks Band) ..boards and flute and Felix Pastorius on electric bass for a short tour in late 2005 and realized almost immediately that, to me, we had something very interesting and special going on as an ensemble. The chemistry was great and the music came alive in a way that was really magical. I thought this would be a good time to start the wheels turning for a recording so I sounded everyone out about the possibility. Getting past each of our yearly touring schedules and many phone calls and emails later, we hit the road again in fall 2006 for a week and recorded at Darkhorse Studios as soon as we got back to Nashville. The sessions went great and I felt that we were well prepared to record because the tunes had been "road tested" during the tour. These tunes come from varying influences for me musically, personally and spiritually. One of the many things that really excites me about this recording is for people to hear how great Futureman plays the drumset. I don't think anyone has ever heard him play like this outside his 4 brothers.
The opener, "Tag", was co-written with me by a great friend and a fantastic trumpeter, Bill Fanning. (www.fanmanmusic.com) He and I used to play this tune with a sort of acid-jazz group in Nashville we played in together...the segue between Tag and Al’s Greens was something mystical that I believe Kofi channeled from Sun Ra from the outer reaches of interstellar space.
"Al’s Greens" was named by Futureman and is inspired by the late great saxophonist Joe Henderson and of course the genius of Al Green. This tune also features a great bass trade between Victor Wooten and Felix Pastorius. You can see and hear the "before" solo on youtube.com that eventually became the one heard here.
"Bubble Up" was another co-write and it features my co-writer writer and fantastic bassist, Alana Rocklin. You gotta hear her solo group Sub-Id! I left some space for another soloist not knowing for sure who I would put in there and I played it for Bela Fleck when we were out touring with the Flecktones and he was into playing on it…that was cool with me. He plays a brilliant solo on it…full of angularity and melody and thought. I also use a Q-Tron envelope filter ont his tune as well other harmonizers and effects throughout the recording. I believe the saxophone has the potential many more sounds than is realized most of the time...love the Q!
"One In, One Out" is my nod to the great jazz trumpeter Lee Morgan and his Boogaloo jazz from the 1960’s. He was brash, fiery, forceful and as soulful to me as Otis Redding or Marvin Gaye. I brought a contemporary element to this by having Black Cat Sylvester drop some turntable on this one as well.
"Turiya" is a tune that is one of my personal favorites. It is influenced by the late pianist/composer/keyboardist/harpist Alice Coltrane as well as the enigmatic Keith Jarrett. I tried to inquire about having Alice play harp on this tune but I was too late as around this time she passed away. This tune is dedicated to her and to her beautiful musical spirit.
"L’Esperance" is a piece I wrote with Felix shortly after we started playing together in early 2001 or so and it came about very organically. We thought we were in 5/4 but ended up we were in 11/4. Go figure. I wrote the flute parts while thinking about how musicians from India subdivide the music into smaller pieces that fit over the broader time signature. It becomes like a 3-D image to me by using those techniques of composition. Kofi plays a gorgeous solo on flute on this one.
"Sweet Magnolias" is a tune that is very special and personal to me. I don’t feel I could have written it if I had not been living in the south for the last 17 years. It came out nearly as fast as I could write it down...
"Move Your Rug" was nearly the last tune on the CD. I started off my "Bloom" CD with this as a processional and dedication to the great Mississippi Fife & Drum musician Otha Turner, who had passed shortly before I recorded that CD. He was a beautiful, soulful musician who kept the tradition of Fife & Drum music going until his death at age 93! I decided it was time to do a full on version of the tune for this recording and I enlisted the help of the wonderful NOLA drummer Doug Belote as well as a number of horn players from Nashville…Rod McGaha on trumpet, Roy Agee on trombone and Joe Murphy on the blistering sousaphone part! It starts off with a "Second Line" groove in 13/4! (yea Dougie!)
The last tune on the CD is a “hidden track” not listed on the outside...It’s a Reggae tune I wrote that's named after the ever elusive 3rd star of the Sirius system (according to the Dogon tribe) called "Emma Ya". (Check out "The Sirius Mystery" for more info on that one!)
As is the concept of the Mu’tet, the music and personel is constantly changing and “mutating”. I have other players coming in and out of the musical fold from time to time. I have a wonderful percussionist on this recording, R. Scott Bryan who used to play percussion with Sheryl Crow. I met Scott through my great friend and brilliant pianist Chris Walters. Chris also plays on the CD and as usual, his playing twists my head around as I try to figure out how he hears what he hears. The engineer, Robert Battaglia, also recorded my previous CD, Bloom, and he did another outstanding job. Another great friend, Richard Aspinwall, mixed the CD brilliantly from Miami and we would send files back and forth online to tweak things. Truly, it’s a new world.
The idea for the title, Mutopia, came from my thoughts that in our lives we all experience change, mutation and some form of adaptation at nearly every moment. Each of those has the potential of true change and of being a perfect moment for each of us if we accept that change, mutation and adaptation as being an essential part of our journey. It’s not always an easy acceptance for me. I sometimes still have to talk myself into believing that it's true. I feel that through playing music and through the root concept of improvisation (something that's “unexpected” and/or “suprising”) I periodically get a glimpse of something that connects us all and through that connection I find inspiration, beauty, and a desire for more connection.
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