Jeff Coffin returns to UWP as special guest artist
PLATTEVILLE - Jeff Coffin, Grammy Award-winning saxophonist of Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, will be returning to the University of Wisconsin-Platteville to perform with UWP students and faculty on Nov. 20 and Nov. 21. The concerts start at 7:30 p.m. in the Richard and Helen Brodbeck Concert Hall, located in the Center for the Arts building on campus.
Coffin has traveled with the Flecktones since 1997; the group has been nominated for and won several Grammy Awards for their albums. He's shared the stage with famous artists and bands such as the Dave Matthews Band, Garth Brooks, Van Morrison, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Baaba Maal, McCoy Tyner, Umphrees McGee, Savion Glover and Branford Marsalis. Not just a performer, Coffin also works as a composer as well, absorbing the influences of a vast breadth of music that includes New Orleans Second Line, African music, Indian Ragas, folk songs, jazz and funk.
In 2005, the Flecktones announced a year-long hiatus, and Coffin was free to take his music solo for awhile. In February 2005, he released the album entitled "BLOOM," which features what Coffin calls his "Mu'tet." This word, derived from "mutation," is a term he created to describe the musicians he's worked with. His collaborators for this project range from a variety of backgrounds and styles: from the Flecktones to the W. O. Smith Community Music School's Children's Choir to seasoned Nashville session veterans to electro-mavericks. The album climbed to number 10 on the College Media Journal (CMJ) charts immediately following its release. Coffin returned to tour with the Flecktones in 2006.
On Nov. 20, the concert will feature Faculty Jazz Combo and Pioneer Jazz Orchestra under the direction of Dave Cooper. The Pioneer Jazz Orchestra will be performing classical big band repertoire by composers such as Duke Ellington and Gordon Goodwin. On Nov. 21, the Faculty Jazz Combo and Jazz I will be performing under the direction of Joe Caploe. Repertoire for this concert includes music by Duke Ellington, George Gershwin, Miles Davis, Oscar Hammerstein and Bobby Timmons. One of the songs, "Fever," will feature vocalist Kelsey Klug. UWP saxophone professor, Allen Cordingley, will also be performing, along with guest artist Rob Block.
Coffin's appearance is made possible by the Yamaha and Vandoren Corporations, the UW-Platteville Foundation and CPR. Both concerts are free and open to the public.
Contact: Joe Caploe, UWP director of percussion and jazz studies, (608) 342-1018,;caploe@uwplatt.edu Dave Cooper, UWP music faculty, (608) 333-2123,cooperd@uwplatt.edu Prepared by: Kym Bliven, UWP Office of Public Relations, (608) 342-1194, blivenk@uwplatt.edu
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