Opening his live performance with “Half Sleep” Jeff Coffin and his Mu’tet rocked the stage of the CFA with a three-hour jam session Feb. 6.

Coffin is a two-time Grammy Award winning member of Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, new member of the Dave Matthews Band, a well-traveled saxophonist and composer.

Coffin’s other group, The Mu’tet gets its name from combining the words mutation and utopia. The name came about from his belief that music is constantly changing and mutating for the better.

Photograph by Kate Olsen
Jeff Coffin performed on Feb. 6 at the CFA. Coffin has played with such musicians as Lynyard Skynard and Garth Brooks, and has recently signed on with Dave Matthews Band.

His Mu’tet includes Derico Watson on the drums, Alana Rocklin playing the bass and Mike Seal on the guitar. Coffin’s long time friend and music professor here at UW-Platteville, Joe Caploe, joined in on half of the performance playing the percussion for the night.

Coffin has been playing the saxophone since the fourth grade and hasn’t looked back.

“I’ve been playing for the greater part of 30 years and my favorite part of playing is being able to make music with other people,” Coffin said. “I get to create and compose different styles of music.”

Coffin has been able to perform with such musicians as Umphrey’s McGee, Yonder Mountain String Band, Lynyard Skynard, Garth Brooks, Galactic and Phish as well as Bela Fleck and the Flecktones and DMB.

Coffin composes and plays different styles of music ranging from New Orleans Second Line, Indian Ragas, Africian music, funk and jazz.

He is also known for his ability to play two saxophones at once. “I am able to play both the tenor and the alto at the same time by creating what I call the double lip embouchure,” Coffin said.

His simultaneous sax playing was featured in his songs entitled “Tag” and “The Mad Hatter Rides Again” during the Mu’tet’s performance.

“Not only was Jeff Coffin absolutely amazing at playing one or two saxophones at once, but his entire band was extremely talented,” senior business major, Tom Pruszka. said. “I thought it was a great concert. To see a person of that caliber play in Platteville was really exciting.”

Besides being a prestigious performer, Coffin is an internationally acclaimed Yamaha and Vandoren Performing Artist and Clinician putting on clinics around the world educating thousands of aspiring musicians.

After the intermission Friday night, Jeff Coffin and his Mu’tet opened with the song Sweet Magnolias. Coffin told the audience he got his inspiration for this song from a huge magnolia tree with its fragrance from its blossom. He was listening to the tree with his body.

“I got a different perspective from it,” Coffin said.

Melissa Gromley, history professor at UW-P, said the band had fun with each other and the music, making it an unforgettable concert. “It was a great opportunity to hear some innovative music in Platteville, and that Jeff Coffin connected with his band and the audience in a way that brought the musical experience full circle,” Gromley said.

The band closed the night with a song that had its World Premier in Wisconsin that got the audience clapping and dancing in the aisles.