Jeff Coffin
The pandemic may have essentially halted touring and limited most musical performances to livestreaming, but it hasn’t slowed Music City’s prolific Jeff Coffin one bit. Though he’s best known as a jazz saxophonist, his many roles run the gamut from bandleader, composer and educator to author and longtime member of the Dave Matthews Band. He’s won Grammys for both jazz and pop performances with Béla Fleck and the Flecktones. For many years, Coffin has also been a producer and owner of an independent label, Ear Up Records.
Ear Up has issued a host of memorable recordings covering a wide range of territory. Eminent saxophonist Dave Liebman came to Music City in 2015 and joined a band of Nashville jazz all-stars for a tribute to On the Corner, a polarizing classic from Liebman’s legendary onetime boss Miles Davis; Ear Up released the recording in 2019. More highlights from the label’s extensive catalog include Hot Chicken, a spirited 2016 release from Coffin’s fellow Nashville saxophonist Evan Cobb, as well as a wealth of duo and trio dates that match Coffin with musicians from a host of genres, playing music that ranges from way outside to very much in the groove.
2021 promises to be an extremely busy year for Coffin and Ear Up. The first of five planned releases — all of which he will play on — is coming Feb. 26, with the second to follow March 19.
“There’s no reason to just sit by idle,” Coffin says with a laugh during a recent lengthy interview with the Scene. “As a matter of fact, before we started I was writing a song. While there’s no question that the pandemic has really hurt the music industry and especially a lot of local musicians, this can also be a productive time, and I feel it really is a time when people need music the most. The inspiration and energy it can provide is vital in times like these.”
Both of the quickly approaching releases feature duo performances, musical situations in which cohesion and musical empathy are critical. There aren’t extra instruments around to bolster settings that might not be working, cushion mistakes, redirect meandering sections or draw attention away from what might be mundane or forgettable performances. Symbiosis, out Friday, pairs Coffin with another formidable saxophonist, Derek Brown. The second, Let It Shine, matches him with cellist Helen Gillet and features the two playing on an impressive total of 13 different instruments. The challenging and greatly varied idiomatic material on both releases also reflects the mission of Ear Up.
“My biggest reason for starting Ear Up was I wanted to create situations for musicians where they weren’t being pressured by outside things, and where creativity and variety were at a premium,” says Coffin. “I’ve never really thought about genre in terms of the types of artists that I record. It’s always been much more about music and message, making sure the environment is right so that everyone feels right at home, is playing well and doing something that’s different. I’ve never wanted to just crank out or release something that would necessarily be pigeonholed or restricted. We also always want to have fun with what we’re doing, and I want to work with people whose music I enjoy and respect.”
That ethos is certainly reflected on Symbiosis, a collection powered by Coffin’s energetic, freewheeling improvisations and Brown’s equally imaginative “beatbox” saxophone technique. Brown utilizes slap-tonguing and circular breathing, and creates a wealth of amazing melodic, harmonic and rhythmic leads or accompaniment. The seven-song set consists of all originals, six of which the pair wrote together. The idiomatic contexts change constantly from avant-garde to funk, from soul/jazz to pop or rock-infused material.
Though it sometimes seems impossible given the amount of sounds that you hear — the torrent of melodies and notes and the intensity that’s created — everything you hear on the LP was recorded live. Both Brown and Coffin excel in alternately fierce and poignant moments during their solo and interactive segments. Standout tracks include “The Belly Crawl” and the finale “Somewhere I Can’t Recall,” which features Coffin on four instruments and Brown on both tenor sax and what he calls “sax percussion.” Suffice to say, you won’t hear many two-sax recordings done like this one.
Coffin is also very enthusiastic about Let It Shine. “She’s exactly the type of artist I love playing with,” Coffin says of New Orleans-based Gillet. He calls their forthcoming LP “one of the best sessions I’ve ever participated in with anyone.” Gillet, a native of Belgium, is well-known among fans of Crescent City music for dazzling technique that includes just about every method you can imagine to get sound from the cello, from rubbing and slapping the body to flashy arco solos, edgy plucked accompaniment and digital looping. She also adds effective vocals sung in French and English.
Later in the year, on dates to be determined, Ear Up is set to release music from The Nu Gurus, Trio Nashville (whose name may change before the record is out) and The Viridian Trio. Aside from his continuing work at Vanderbilt as part of the Blair School of Music faculty, Coffin has a busy calendar that also includes In the Studio, a streaming performance series he began last year to benefit fellow Nashville musicians. Proceeds from donations gathered during streams benefit local out-of-work musicians and their families. The concerts have been held regularly on Fridays at 7 p.m. A complete schedule and links to past performances can be found at facebook.com/jeffcoffinmusic. In addition, there are tentative plans for the Dave Matthews Band to resume touring this summer, and Coffin also says he’s hoping to work again with Béla Fleck.
“Oh, and I’m still writing songs all the time. For me it’s really about the music, doing whatever I can to help it grow and get it out to the people.”
