| Jazz |
Jeff Coffin Returns in Explosive Form with the Wild Iris Brass Band and an Album That Dances Across the American Soundscape.
Jeff Coffin has always been an artist with surprises up his sleeve, now, he’s back, more explosive than ever, cloaked in the vibrant energy of a brass band built for celebration. In his latest venture with the Wild Iris Brass Band, Coffin ensures the party never stops, a sonic engine built to help the sun blaze on until summer’s last golden day.
The brass band tradition is no easy art form. It demands precision, charisma, and an instinct for controlled chaos. Fortunately, Coffin, a perennial mischief-maker on the jazz scene, and his accomplices have mastered its exuberant intricacies. The result is an album bursting with festive spirit and radiant vitality. But don’t be fooled by its boisterous exterior, beneath the revelry lie complex arrangements and virtuosic musicianship. Each track is steeped in a rich melodic sensibility, pushed to the outer edge of jazz expression.
That joy, that barely-contained exultation, is evident from the opening bars. The Wild Iris Brass Band, a Nashville-born ensemble infused with the soul of New Orleans, was co-founded by saxophonist Jeff Coffin and trombonist Ray Mason. On WAY UP, they blend compositional sophistication with the improvisational fire of the streets. Drawing on deep wells of experience in jazz, funk, pop, and global traditions, the band crafts a sound both timeless and strikingly contemporary, at once grounded and searching.
There is an unmistakable reverence here, an homage to the New Orleans lineage that has made people move for generations. But Wild Iris does more than honor the canon. It reinterprets it, lacing familiar rhythms with global hues and a distinctly Nashville accent. The result is a tapestry of place and spirit, a musical map that feels at once rooted and borderless.
For the listener, there’s a kind of cultural game at play. You may recognize many of the album’s tunes, depending on your musical literacy or cultural reference points. What’s delightful is how the record takes you on a journey across the United States, deliberately so. It feels like a road trip in sound: shifting landscapes, changing moods, different textures of light. This is more than metaphor. For anyone who has driven the serpentine highways from state to state, past gas stations and diners, neon signs and dusty silence, WAY UP captures that sensation. With every track, you feel yourself crossing invisible lines, each one marked by its own character, color, and scent.
The band’s origin story only deepens its appeal. In 2021, amid the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic, Coffin was determined to bring joy to a close friend preparing to celebrate his 50th birthday. The friend had long imagined himself in New Orleans, sipping coffee and watching a second line parade. With travel restrictions making that dream impossible, Coffin decided to bring New Orleans to him. He called on Ray Mason, who had recently moved in next door, and together, the two organized a surprise: a street-side brass band performance.
On the morning of the birthday, Coffin and Mason led a 20-minute performance straight out of the French Quarter tradition, right in the middle of the neighborhood. That moment of joy and defiant celebration proved too good to leave behind. What began as a one-off turned into a shared obsession. Writing sessions became rehearsals. Rehearsals became performances. And thus, the Wild Iris Brass Band was born.
Art often begins with a dream, and WAY UP is no exception. It’s an album that transcends genre, geography, and even the occasion of its birth. It’s a work of joy born from isolation, a tribute to the past that dares to stretch forward. With its architectural depth, musical complexity, and freewheeling spirit, WAY UP is more than an album. It’s an invitation to dance, to remember, and to imagine the next turn in the road.
Thierry De Clemensat
Member at Jazz Journalists Association
USA correspondent for Paris-Move and ABS magazine
Editor in chief – Bayou Blue Radio, Bayou Blue News
PARIS-MOVE, June 30th 2025
Follow PARIS-MOVE on X
::::::::::::::::::::::::
Musicians:
Jeff Coffin (soprano, tenor, baritone, electro saxophone, clarinet and bass clarinet),
Ray Mason (trombone),
Emmanuel Echem (trumpet),
Jovan Quallo (alto saxophone),
Neil Konouchi (sousaphone),
Justin Amaral (drums, percussion),
Ryoko Suzuki (tambourine).
WAY UP features the band and invites many friends and collaborators, including Bela Fleck (banjo), Steven Bernstein (electric slide trumpet), Bernardo Aguiar (Brazilian percussion), Bob Lanzetti (guitar), Weedie Braimah (djembe, congas) and Yuko Bannai (vocals).
Tracklist :
We’re The Wild Iris
9 to 5
Eye Of The Cyclops
Bramble Ramble
Steppin’ Up
The Slow Express
Let It Slide
To The Bone