Let It Shine

TRACKLIST:

01) The Sun Never Says (Composed by Jeff Coffin/Melody based on a text by Hafiz) - 2:04
Jeff Coffin / soprano sax
Helen Gillet / cello

02) Lazy Drag Jig (Composed by Jeff Coffin) - 4:56
Jeff Coffin / soprano sax, tenor sax, bass clarinet
Helen Gillet / cello 
Roy ‘Futureman’ Wooten / cajon

03) Round And Around (Composed by Jeff Coffin) - 3:36
Jeff Coffin / D whistle, curved soprano sax, voice
Helen Gillet / cello 

04) Unzen (Composed by Helen Gillet) - 5:50
Jeff Coffin / tenor sax
Helen Gillet / cello

05) Sometimes Springtime (Composed by Jeff Coffin/*Lyrics by Helen Gillet) - 5:42
Jeff Coffin / soprano sax, bass clarinet
Helen Gillet / cello, cello looping, voice

06) Lampsi (Composed by Jeff Coffin) - 5:26
Jeff Coffin / soprano sax, percussion
Helen Gillet / cello, cello looping & pizzicato
Roy ‘Futureman’ Wooten / cajon

07) Second Wings (Composed by Jeff Coffin) [for Ryoko] - 5:40
Jeff Coffin / clarinet
Helen Gillet / cello

08) The Sandman (Composed by Jeff Coffin) - 6:55
Jeff Coffin / bass flute, alto flute, bass clarinet, didgibone, percussion
Helen Gillet / cello, percussion, cello looping, cello slap 

09) Should I Stand (Composed by Jeff Coffin) - 5:05
Jeff Coffin / tenor sax
Helen Gillet / cello

10) Do You Still (Composed by Ernst Reijseger) - 7:03
Jeff Coffin / bass flute, tenor sax, clarinet, bass clarinet
Helen Gillet / cello, cello looping

PERSONNEL:

JEFF COFFIN
bass flute, alto flute, D whistle, tenor sax, soprano sax, bass clarinet, clarinet, percussion, didgibone, voice

HELEN GILLET
cello, cello looping, cello slaps, percussion, voice, lyrics

Special Guest:
ROY ‘FUTUREMAN’ WOOTEN
cajon (2,6)

RECORDING INFO:

Recorded @ ITA Studio, Nashville, TN / August 17-19, 2019
Engineer: Jeff Coffin
Additional Recording @ House of 1000hz Studio, New Orleans, LA
Engineer: Andrew Gilchrist
Mastering: Adam Grover @ Sterling Sound, Nashville, TN

Microphones used:
Cello/Loops: AEA44, KSM44, TL22
Saxes/Flutes/Clarinets/Vocal: AEA88, Lawson 47, KSM44
*Switched JC Lawson 47 to KSM44 on SHOULD I STAND (due to tube noise)

NOLA Mics:
Microphones used for NOLA Cello (Track #2 only)
AEA KU5A, SHURE KSM 32 , AKG C214 Stereo Mics
Microphone used for vocal NEUMANN TLM 103 (Sometimes Springtime)

SOMETIMES SPRINGTIME (Lyrics by Helen Gillet)

(French Lyrics)
Au bout de mon souffle   
Au bout de mon élan
Je retrouve mes larmes
Mes rires et mon temps
Mes rires et mon temps

Pourtant au Printemps
C’est le moment d’écrire
Pourtant au Printemps
C’est le moment d’aimer
Pourtant au Printemps
C’est le moment d’écrire 

Parfois au Printemps
Le temps chasse les larmes
Parfois au Printemps
Le temps chasse l’amour
Parfois au Printemps 

Parfois au Printemps
Moi, Je retrouve mon souffle
Parfois au Printemps
Je retrouve mon élan

Je retrouve mon souffle
Je retrouve mon souffle
Je retrouve mon élan
Je retrouve mon souffle

(English Translation)
At the end of my breath 
At the end of my momentum
I rediscover my tears 
My laughter and my time

Yet in Spring
It’s time to write
Yet in Spring
It's time to love 

Sometimes in Spring
Time drives away tears
Sometimes in Spring
Time drives love away

Sometimes in Spring
I find my breath again
Sometimes in Spring
I regain my momentum 

I find my breath again
I find my breath again
I regain my momentum
I find my breath again

FROM JEFF:

lines intersecting
sounds plea for resolution
voices heard through sound
standing on each others shoulders
holding musical hands 
clasped but wiggling free
Green ears listening and head bobbing
listening from the other side
off we go in gratitude and wonder

Making music with cellist Helen Gillet is what it must be like to go sport fishing for marlin! You have to be strong, on your toes, and ready for anything. She is at once deeply rooted, historical, forward reaching, in the sky, pushing, prying, releasing, taking charge, acquiescing, leading, following, empathic, subtle, liquid, she’s air and fire, earth and sky, Helen Gillet is a profoundly powerful musical spirit.

We had only played three times together in total before self-recording this new music at my studio in Nashville, TN. Once at a jam, once as an improvising duo, and the third time at the Side Bar in NOLA where we explored some of the music you have here. It was after that show that I suggested we record. 

When Helen asked me to do the Side Bar gig during NOLA Jazz Fest in 2019, I decided to write 5 new pieces for woodwinds and cello - having never written for cello before. I was intrigued by the sonic possibilities her cello looping and my woodwinds might come up with. I could say that the results exceeded my expectations but I expected that it would be amazing. I wasn’t wrong. This project is one of my favorite things I have ever done. The uniqueness of sound, the subtleness of timbre, the willingness to explore and create are just a few of the elements on display here. If you feel a fraction of the joy listening to this music that we felt making it we will have done our job well. Thank you for listening with open ears and an open heart. 

open windows
sounds from outside and in
melt together
hands, feet, and breath combine
wooden heartbeats and metal tears
hollow point mysteries explode
into a beacon of light
find your bliss
and let it shine!

FROM HELEN:

This project is unlike any I have recorded. The album has a unique blend of the raw acoustic side of my cello playing with my layered looped sounds which have deeply evolved over the years of both traveling the world as a solo artist and performing with countless exploratory jazz combos and New Orleans Mardi Grass Indian, funk and rock ensembles. Let it Shine was a beautiful challenge of focusing on intensely beautiful compositions and blending cello sounds with the many different instruments Jeff Coffin so masterfully plays. At times, I felt like the rhythm section of a band backing up Jeff's multiple layers of melody and harmony and at other times I enjoyed shape shifting my timbre to become another tenor saxophone, clicky bass clarinet or bass flute. There is such joy in the simplicity of a duo.

"Let it Shine" consists of intimate instrumental duos, many of which were written specifically by Jeff, "Do you Still" by of my Jazz cellist heroes Ernst Reijseger, a Sufi poem, The pledge of Allegiance, and "Unzen" my own compositional tribute to Charles Mingus. The opening piece "The Sun Never Says" an instrumental duet artfully composed by Jeff Coffin. It is based on the rhythmic inflections and unfolding meaning of a Sufi poem that reads:

Even
After
All this time
The sun never says to the earth
"You owe me"
Look what happens
with a love like that,
It lights the
Whole
Sky

This poem illustrates the feeling of partnering with Jeff on making a full music album. I have always been thorough in my projects however perhaps sometimes holding a few places too close to my analytical brain to let the light shine in. Jeff has a generous and energetic spirit that lights up the whole process of making an album. From the first composition he sent me until the last zoom meeting we have had, he continues to shine this strong light on the music we have made together.

I was thrilled to convince Jeff to add some of his voice to one track "Round and Round" on the album. I have always been drawn to the voice "behind" or rather "within" the instrumentalist.