A professor at Vanderbilt University’s Blair School of Music was recognized as a musical icon Saturday night when he and the other members of Dave Matthews Band were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — A professor at Vanderbilt University’s Blair School of Music was recognized as a musical icon Saturday night when he and the other members of Dave Matthews Band were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
According to Vanderbilt, Jeff Coffin is a saxophonist, composer, and educator, as well as a three-time Grammy Award-winner as a member of Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, with whom he played from 1997 to 2010. He started touring with Dave Matthews Band in 2008 and officially joined the group in 2009 following the death of founding member LeRoi Moore.
Then, in 2015, Coffin was appointed to the Blair faculty. Despite being a touring member of Dave Matthews Band, Coffin has a strong devotion to his students at Blair, where he serves as an adjunct instructor of jazz saxophone, school officials said. He is also credited with bringing Ryan Middagh — chair of the Department of Jazz and director of the award-winning Blair Big Band — to Vanderbilt.
Even when he’s not on the road with Dave Matthews Band, Coffin plays with his own group, Jeff Coffin & the Mu’tet, and travels the country to perform shows and present music clinics to students, the university said.
Artists with whom Coffin has shared the stage and recording studio include a “who’s who” of musicians, including Bela Fleck & the Flecktones, Dave Matthews Band, Branford Marsalis, Bob Mintzer, DJ Logic, New Orleans Social Club, Maceo Parker, McCoy Tyner, Baaba Maal, Phish, Mike Clark’s Prescription Trio, Galactic, Kirk Whalum, My Morning Jacket, Widespread Panic, Chris Thile, Willie Nelson, Chester Thompson, Garth Brooks, Van Morrison, J.D. Souther, Vinnie Colaiuta, The Dixie Chicks, “Rakalam” Bob Moses, Stanton Moore, Brooks & Dunn, Tuvan Throat Singers – the Alash Ensemble & Konger Ol Ondar, George Porter Jr., Umphrey’s McGee, Del McCoury, John Scofield, Yonder Mountain String Band, Marc Broussard, Martina McBride, 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, Indian Ragas, Brazilian, folk songs, Gypsy music, Alan Lomax field recordings, jazz, funk, etc,” he says, “the spirit and breath of the music is what I take away from the listening and playing. It’s what decides for me if I like it or not…I consider it ‘Spirit Music.'” Coffin is also known to play two saxes at a time, in a nod to the late great saxophonist Rahsaan Roland Kirk.
As a heavily in-demand Yamaha & D’Addario Performing Artist, Coffin has presented more than 300 solo and Mu’tet music clinics from Farmington, Maine to Perth, Australia to Johannesburg, South Africa to students of all ages to raving reviews.
Living in Nashville since 1991, Coffin graduated with a music education degree from the University of North Texas in 1990, where he played in the acclaimed One O’Clock Lab Band. He also studied with sax great Joe Lovano on a National Endowment for the Arts grant.
A number of Coffin’s compositions have been published as big band arrangements through the University of Northern Colorado (UNC) Jazz Press, and he has presented them in concerts with many ensembles. Education continues to be an important part of what he shares with others, and he is a tireless champion to players of all ages and levels to discover and cultivate their own musical voice.
Jeff Coffin’s biography on the Blair School of Music website
After decades in the music industry, Coffin was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame — along with the rest of Dave Matthews Band — under the performers category during the 39th annual ceremony at the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland, Ohio, on Saturday, Oct. 19.
Hollywood star Julia Roberts not only helped induct Dave Matthews Band, but she wore a band T-shirt to do it. After all, she’s a “self-avowed superfan” who appeared in the group’s video for the 2005 single “Dreamgirl,” according to The Associated Press (AP). The actress said the band’s appeal is “spontaneous abandon,” adding that the first time she danced with her husband was to one of Dave Matthews Band’s songs.
“The jam band, with their mix of funk, folk-rock, jazz, blues and pop, then played ‘Ants Marching’ — asking the crowd to sing the chorus — ‘Crash’ and ‘So Much to Say,'” AP wrote. “The arena was still full when they hit the stage after midnight, with the crowd singing along and swaying.”
AP reported Dave Matthews hugged Roberts; handed out the trophies to his bandmates; and called the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Class of 2024 impressive, saying, “We’re swimming in very deep water here.” He thanked the current and former band members, the bar owner who gave them a home in Virginia, and the fans.