JEFF COFFIN
musician • educator
composer
Jeff Coffin is a saxophonist, composer, and educator who has earned international acclaim for his work with Dave Matthews Band and Béla Fleck & the Flecktones, as well as his 25+ solo projects. Coffin’s approach to the saxophone is marked by a fearless sense of exploration, fusing jazz, funk, world music, and rock into a style that is uniquely his own.
A 3x Grammy Award winner, Coffin continues to tour the world as a member of Dave Matthews Band and captivates audiences with his powerful, emotive playing. In addition to his work as a performer, Coffin is deeply committed to music education. He has been teaching at the prestigious Vanderbilt University since 2015 and has also presented well over 400 workshops and clinics around the globe. He is the founder of an independent record label, Ear Up Records, and co-founder of AfricaNashville - which promotes cross cultural relationships between celebrated African and American artists in Nashville, TN. Coffin’s infectious passion for sharing knowledge has made him a respected mentor to aspiring musicians everywhere he goes.
On October 19, 2024, Dave Matthews Band was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame - Jeff is one of a handful musicians to attain this incredible musical honor!
Jeff is a Yamaha Performing Artist & Clinician, a Boston Sax Shop Ambassador, & a JodyJazz Artist.
You can download PDF files here:
These are some of the files that Jeff has gone thru in his talk TAKING THE MYSTERY OUT OF IMPROVISATION.
For even more info: Check out Jeff’s full website
Here are tracks to play Tall & Lanky and A Joe Jones. Both are Blues but each track has a different feel/groove and a slightly different form from one another…Lead sheets are in the PDF download. Enjoy! Please post yourself playing them and tag me online!! : )
JC’S IMPROV APP!!
CONNECTING
THE DOTS…
WHAT IS IMPROVISATION?
Improvisation is the way we use notes and rhythms together in music - much in the same way we use sounds and rhythms to create words in language. Having a Latin root of IMPROVISUS, it is translated as ‘unforseen’ or ‘unexpected’. Improvisation can be the most beautiful of surprises!
HOW DOES IT WORK?
Using a one chord, two chord, and blues progression, Jeff will take you from the fundamentals of chord recognition and voice leading* into the early stages of improvisation and get you ‘playing the changes’!
*Voice leading is the way notes of one chord connect to the notes of the next chord. Jeff will demonstrate this by using only the notes of the arpeggios (1 3 5 7 of the given chord) to ‘voice lead’ from one chord to the next.
THIS APP IS ONLY AVAILABLE ON THE APPLE PLATFORM. SORRY ANDROID USERS!!
