DCist Preview: The Jeff Coffin Mu'tet @ Blues Alley
Jeff Coffin, photo by Roxanne Hayes.
"I wanted to have a group that could play essentially any style of music," Coffin explained during a recent interview with DCist. "I wanted to be able to go from old school to jazz to contemporary improvisational music at the drop of a hat."
The Mu'tet will be in town tonight at Blues Alley, marking the band's first performance at the historic venue. Boasting a lineup of monster musicians and all original material, the group's sound blends influences from all over the world. Coffin incorporates electronic elements as well, making extensive use of effects pedals to add texture. Continuing where the great Rahsaan Roland Kirk left off, Coffin also features his impressive double saxophone technique in every performance.
"I love the sound of the two horns played together and it's another piece of the overall puzzle of sound we sort through on a nightly basis," Coffin said.
Tuesday night's talented cast includes a number of regulars on the jam band circuit. Drummer Jeff Sipe, who sometimes goes by the stage name, Apt.Q258, is a founding member of Col. Bruce Hampton & The Aquarium Rescue Unit. He has also played in a number of projects with guitarist Jimmy Herring, who filled Jerry Garcia's shoes in the re-formed Dead. Kofi Burbridge is also part of the Aquarium Rescue Unit family, but is best known for his keyboard and flute work with the Derek Trucks Band. Trumpeter Bill Fanning first encountered Coffin nearly twenty years ago, when the two young musicians played on a cruise ship together -- his credits include Bruce Springsteen, Sheryl Crow and Bruce Hornsby. Rounding out the group is bassist Felix Pastorius, who carries the legacy of his late father, Jaco Pastorius, the man who revolutionized electric bass playing in the 70s and 80s.
"These players are at the top of their game and they bring an understanding and sensitivity to the way they play, and conceptualize the music I write," Coffin said of his band mates.
This iteration of the Mu'tet has recorded an album that will be released later this year or in early 2012. Coffin also has a forthcoming album called Duets, a collaboration with Sipe. The recording is meant to be heard as a musical suite, as opposed to a number of individual tunes, and is due out in March. Even with these projects and the bigger acts he plays with, the Mu'tet is where Coffin pursues his true artistic ambitions.
"It's more personal on certain levels than any other group I play with," Coffin said. "I think that is because I essentially write all of the material and I have more of a connection to the tunes and the concepts we are continuing to work through."
The Jeff Coffin Mu'tet will play 8 and 10 p.m. sets at Blues Alley tonight, March 1, 2011. Tickets are $25 + $12.50 minimum/surcharge.