CD - Jeff Coffin - Only the Horizon

1CD - Import

In a conversation about art and music, someone said to me, “There is only the horizon.” I thought for a long time about what they meant and I came to realize it can reference the past as well as the future - which is what I have tried to do with this recording.

The past (informing the present & future) being the traditional music and rhythms of West Africa generated by Yeli Ensemble and the Gullah Geechee which have been passed down for countless generations. The future (encompassing the past & present) being contemporary original music and rhythms played by some of the top musicians on the planet at this point in time.

Only The Horizon means to be looking down the road and bringing what you perceive and witness to your experience. Striving to reconcile but not re-create. It’s coming up with something new, inspired and informed by something old. It’s bringing the future and the past together in a holistic way that isn’t contrived or mapped out. It’s discovering something hidden. It’s new territory and it’s meant to be explored…

The common thread to me in all this is the musical dance. Dance comes in many varieties but what I’m talking about is music that moves us in a way that is conscious as well as subconscious. Music that makes you move when you don’t even realize you’re moving. Music that gets inside of your bones and memory and moves you in an emotional, physical, and spiritual sense.

My vision for this recording was to explore the way West African rhythms could co-exist with the music I was currently writing. I chose the players very specifically for certain tunes and all of them brought high art to the table. There are too many highlights to list fully here but a few from my studio really stick out…Having the great Daru Jones on drums and hearing his groove and pocket up close. Truly an awe-inspiring musician! To witness Keb’ Mo’ carve his guitar parts from thin air in a way I have never witnessed before was at once befuddling and stunning. To have my dear friend Mars Williams lay down a tenor sax solo in what was one of his last recordings was such a gift. To hear Yeli Ensemble bring their magic time and again and in particular, percussionist Ibro Dioubate, was a dream come true - their comprehension and initiation of time and rhythm is done in a way that is quite unique in comparison to how I learned about rhythm and time, but there is deep common ground!

To witness what Matt White and Quentin Baxter brought from the Gullah Geechee culture in Charleston, SC, was amazing on every level and made deeper a track that was already, at once, earthbound and in the sky.

And to the rest of the musicians on this recording…Carter Beauford, Keith Carlock, Nate Smith, Derico Watson, Tony Hall, Viktor Krauss, Stefan Lessard, MonoNeon, Alana Rocklin, Jay White, Victor Wooten, Bela Fleck, Jon Cowherd, Leo Genovese, Buddy Strong, Emmanuel Echem, Rod McGaha, Rashawn Ross, Ray Mason, Bill Evans, Nir Felder, Cory Wong, Ezra Kessler, Rory ‘R.A.P.' Ferreira, Roy ‘Futureman’ Wooten, Ryoko Suzuki, Bob Coffin - you all fill my heart and I am eternally grateful…

What incredible gifts we all share. There is deep love, profound gratitude, and old and new friendships in these recordings. This is the most time I have spent, and the most fun I have had, making a solo record and I think it’s the best music I’ve ever made! Thank you for listening…