Music professor has two articles published in Saxophone Today

Professor of Music Thomas Erdmann had two 6,000-word articles published in the November/December 2016 issue of Saxophone Today.

​The first article is on saxophonist, flutist, clarinetist, keyboardist, composer and arranger Jeff Coffin. As an artist, he’s comfortable playing pop-oriented worldbeat rock and roll as a member of Dave Matthews Band (DMB), cutting-edge and at times bluegrass-tinged jazz as a member of Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, country with Martina McBride or Brooks & Dunn, contemporary gospel with Kirk Franklin, American roots music with Delbert McClinton, bluegrass revival with John Cowan, post-Phish with Umphrey’s McGee, soulful R&B with Mark Broussard, jazz fusion with Victor Wooten, crooner music with Matt Belsante, straight-ahead jazz with Bill Fanning, and big band and small group jazz with the Nashville Jazz Composers Collective, among many other artists and many other styles.

Coffin’s ability to play the right style in the right way has made him not just a studio powerhouse but also the longtime member of two incredibly successful bands, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones and DMB. None of this takes into account the superb eclectic jazz CD releases Coffin has done as a leader of his own band, Jeff Coffin and the Mu’tet.

In addition to this, he’s a professional photographer who presents his own shows and whose photos are used by some of the artists he’s worked with on their CD jackets. He’s also co-author of the book and CD package “The Articulate Jazz Musician: Mastering the Language of Jazz” and is on the faculty of Vanderbilt University. Among the many other artists he’s worked with in the studio or live on stage are The Dixie Chicks, DJ Logic, Branford Marsalis, Van Morrison, Bob Mintzer, My Morning Jacket, Willie Nelson, Maceo Parker, McCoy Tyner, Kirk Whalum, and Widespread Panic, to list just a few.

The other article is on State University of New York (SUNY) at Plattsburgh saxophonist and band director Daniel Gordon. There he not only directs bands, but has been chair of the Music Department, teaches saxophone, and has taught a variety of music courses. In addition to this he teaches saxophone during the summers at the Suomen Työväen Muusiikkiliitto International Summer Music Festival in Terälahti, Finland, is founder and member of the Frontier Saxophone Quartet, is founder, music director and president of the Adirondack Wind Ensemble, and founded the violin, saxophone and piano chamber ensemble Metamusic.

A few of Gordon’s previous positions include serving separate times as a consultant and earlier as an Adjunct Instructor at the Jyväskylä Conservatory in Finland developing wind bands and chamber ensembles as well as coaching ensemble directors. He has also taught wind band conducting and American repertory for symphonic band at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Finland, was an adjunct instructor as director of the Wind Symphony at McGill University, and taught at the Academia Ekhoh in Barcelona, Spain. Other previous experience includes being a music critic for the Colorado Daily in Boulder, Colorado, and the Nashua Telegraph in Nashua, New Hampshire. 

Gordon has garnered a long list of grants from a wide a collection of organizations including the New York State Council on the Arts Decentralization Program, Finlandia Foundation, McGill University, Cross-Border Studies, and National Endowment for the Arts, to list a few. His degreed work includes a bachelor of music degree in saxophone performance from Syracuse University, the Vermeil Medal in Saxophone Performance from the Bordeaux Conservatory as a Fulbright Scholar in France, a master’s in instrumental conducting with a minor in music theory from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and professional development work in conducting and musicology at Montreal’s McGill University. He’s written a book, “Sax On The Streets,” about his time playing on the streets in Europe, and has published many scholarly articles.