Dave Matthews Band

Dave Matthews has chronicled his life’s travels so often that when asked, he can rattle off the details without pause. It goes like this:

Born in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 1967. Moves two years later with his family to Westchester County, NY, where his dad, a physicist, goes to work for IBM. Then, in the early `70s, to Cambridge, England, before returning to New York — where his dad died in 1977. The family moved back to South Africa in 1980, where Matthews went to a few different schools and “got more wise about the evils of government, there and in general.” O.K.; pause for a breath.

The key move for Dave Matthews Band fans, of course, was when he relocated in 1986 to Charlottesville, VA, where his parents had lived before he was born. Though he also logged time back in South Africa and in Amsterdam, it was in Charlottesville where Matthews — who took piano lessons as a child before picking up the guitar at age nine — became part of the local music community and hatched the idea for his own band.

“I didn’t really have a vision, or a plan,” says Matthews, acknowledging that some of his musical sensibility came from spending time in so many different places as a child. “I’m sure it gave me a little bit of an openness. The most diverse music in the world is in America, ’cause there’s so many different cultures here, but what tends to be pushed to the top is often a narrow view of what there really is. So maybe (his travels) just gave me a wider pool of listening.”

Matthews says his principal goal with the band was to surround himself with the best players possible. To this day he remains “amazed” that he was able to recruit and retain the four musicians he rather modestly refers to as his superiors. “I was just looking for people that I liked,” explains Matthews, who feels he’s “gotten a bit better” over the years. “Could I play with them was more of the question, I think. We just ended up fitting together. The band wasn’t something that I was looking for; it was very much I loved the people I asked to play with me. There was a connection at the beginning, and I think what we’ve been about is not some grand scheme but more the spirit of everyone, which is why we ended up with this band and why it sounds like it does.”

Jeff Coffin is an internationally recognized saxophonist, bandleader, composer and educator and has been traveling the globe since the late 20th Century. He is a 3x Grammy Award winner from Bela Fleck & the Flecktones and played with them from 1997-2010. In July 2008, Jeff began touring with Dave Matthews Band, and officially joined the group in 2009 following the tragic passing of founding member LeRoi Moore. When not on the road with DMB, Coffin fronts his own group, Jeff Coffin & the Mu’tet.

Some of the artists Coffin has shared the stage and the recording studio include a “who’s who” of musicians such as Bela Fleck & the Flecktones, Dave Matthews Band, Branford Marsalis, Bob Mintzer, DJ Logic, New Orleans Social Club, Maceo Parker, McCoy Tyner, Baaba Maal, Phish, Mike Clark’s Prescription Trio, Galactic, Kirk Whalum, My Morning Jacket, Widespread Panic, Chris Thile, Willie Nelson, Chester Thompson, Garth Brooks, Van Morrison, J.D. Souther, Vinnie Colaiuta, The Dixie Chicks, ‘Rakalam’ Bob Moses, Stanton Moore, Brooks and Dunn, Tuvan Throat Singers – the Alash Ensemble & Konger Ol Ondar, George Porter Jr., Umphrey’s McGee, Del McCoury, John Scofield, Yonder Mountain String Band, Marc Broussard, Martina McBride, Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Wailers and many, many others.

Along the way, Coffin has absorbed an astounding range of influences. “Whether it be New Orleans Second Line, African, Indian Ragas, Brazilian, folk songs, Gypsy music, Alan Lomax field recordings, jazz, funk, etc…” he says, “the spirit and breath of the music is what I take away from the listening and playing. It’s what decides for me if I like it or not…I consider it ‘Spirit Music’.” Coffin is also known to play two saxes at a time, in a nod to the late great saxophonist Rahsaan Roland Kirk.

Jeff is a heavily in-demand clinician, a Yamaha Performing Artist and, since 2001, has presented more than 300 solo and Mu’tet music clinics from Farmington, Maine to Perth, Australia to students of all ages to raving reviews. Education continues to be an important part of what Jeff shares with others, and he is a tireless champion to players of all ages and levels to discover and cultivate their own musical voice.

Living in Nashville, TN since 1991, Coffin graduated with a music education degree from the prestigious University of North Texas in 1990 where he played in the acclaimed One O’Clock Lab Band. He also studied with sax great Joe Lovano on a National Endowment for the Arts grant.

At the 2000 Grammy Awards, in addition to Bela Fleck & the Flecktones winning a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Jazz Recording (Outbound), Coffin’s tune, Zona Mona (also from Outbound) was Grammy nominated for Best Pop Instrumental Composition.

Coffin is also an avid photographer and he sees photographic composition, musical composition and improvisation as going hand in hand. www.jeffcoffinphotography.com.

Founding Dave Matthews Band member LeRoi Holloway Moore (September 7, 1961-August 19, 2008) was born in Durham, North Carolina and raised in Charlottesville, Virginia. LeRoi began playing the alto saxophone in the junior high school band, and played in the band during his tenure at Western Albemarle high school. He studied tenor saxophone at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, VA.

LeRoi had become an accomplished jazz musician in Charlottesville prior to founding DMB, playing with artists such as John D’earth and Dawn Thompson. He helped found the Charlottesville Swing Orchestra and the John D’earth Quintet. The John D’earth Quintet played weekly Thursday night gigs at Miller’s in Charlottesville in the late 80s into early 90s. It was on one of those Thursday evenings in 1991 that LeRoi and Dave Matthews first met. LeRoi began providing instrumental arrangements for a few of the songs that Dave had written and shortly thereafter, began recording songs with Dave. LeRoi and Carter were jazz compatriots for years before the meeting with Dave, performing together in many informal gigs and jam sessions.

LeRoi has been credited for arranging much of the music to lyrics written by Dave. Throughout his musical career, LeRoi played bass, baritone, tenor, alto, and soprano saxophones as well as the flute, bass clarinet, wooden penny whistle and oboe. In addition to performing with Dave Matthews Band, LeRoi appeared on Code Magenta’s self-titled album, on Soko’s album In November Sunlight and Nas’s album Hip Hop is Dead.

LeRoi passed away in August of 2008 from complications sustained in an ATV accident occurring in late June. Dave said of LeRoi at the funeral service in Charlottesville, “He would put that horn in his mouth and make the most astonishingly honest music that could knock you over, and it would sink right to the middle of you.”

LeRoi will forever be known as an incredibly talented musician who was blessed with the ability to fluidly traverse jazz, funk, rock and classical musical styles. He will always be remembered as being one of the few saxophonists to become a key member of a rock/pop band, ultimately changing the way a saxophonist is perceived in a rock band.

Rashawn Ross started his musical journey from humble beginnings in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. While in high school, Ross began performing and traveling with some of the islands’ most popular dance and calypso bands. From that point, music became a huge part his life which led to his decision to pursue it as a career.

A graduate of Berklee College of Music (1996-2000), Ross has worked with artists in many different genres of music ranging from funk, rock, jazz, hip hop, gospel and country music. Since graduating from Berklee in 2000, He has toured with Yerba Buena, Soulive and DJ Quik. Rashawn began working with Dave Matthews Band in 2005 and became a regular tour musician beginning with the 2006 DMB tour.

Rashawn has enjoyed the unique opportunity to perform and record with an impressive roster of artists including: Usher, Ludacris, Chris Cornell, The Fugees, Maceo Parker, Ron Blake, Christian McBride, Chaka Khan, Stevie Wonder, Willie Nelson, The Edge, Rodney Jerkins, Christina Milan, Fred Hammond, Sean Paul, Roy Hargrove, Nicholas Payton, ?uestlove, Mobb Deep, Talib Kweli, Common, Pharoah Monch, Mark Batson, Robert Randolph, Mo Horns, Doug E. Fresh, B Real, Chingy, Nate Dogg, Kim Burrell, Richard Smallwood, Kelly Price, The Hawkins Family, James Hall, Me’Shell Ndegeocello, String Cheese Incident, Baaba Maal, Taj Mahal, and Femi Kuti.

Born in Anaheim, CA, bassist Stefan Lessard remembers music always being played at home. His mother sang, and his father would come home from his day job and immediately begin playing guitar or flute. After several moves, the family settled in Virginia when Stefan was six. Studying with his first music teacher, Mary Carol, he learned violin, piano and guitar. In high school, Stefan picked up the electric bass and took to it immediately. He then moved on to the upright. Soon he was playing alongside local jazz greats in Charlottesville clubs.

He was 16 and still in high school when then-bartender Dave Matthews asked Stefan to join him, along with Carter Beauford and LeRoi Moore, in their attempt to form a band. He jumped at the opportunity, bringing along his upright bass, but soon felt the sound of the group called for the electric. In the beginning, he was not only the youngest member of Dave Matthews Band, but also the only one playing an electric instrument. Stefan enrolled at Virginia Commonwealth University, where he was accepted a year early, but dropped out after a month due to the band’s growing popularity.

In 2007, Stefan formed the musical side project Yukon Kornelius with Ed Robertson of Barenaked Ladies, Adam Gardner of Guster and drummer Eric Fawcett (N*E*R*D and Spymob). The four musicians were filming a Warren Miller sports film, Children of Winter, and bonded over their love for snow sports, charitable missions and music. Yukon Kornelius played its first show at a benefit in Vermont. Most recently, Stefan and Mike McCready of Pearl Jam formed Secret Stash, a unique group of the duo’s “secret stash” of musical friends. They performed in August 2017 at Creating Equilibrium, a 3 day forum aimed at finding solutions to solve ecological issues in America.

Tim Reynolds has been playing music all of his life. Starting as a bass player in a gospel band in his hometown of St. Louis to his days in Charlottesville with TR3, his breakthrough electric trio in the 1980s, and his recent recording and touring with Dave Matthews Band and the Dave Matthews-Tim Reynolds Acoustic Duo. Tim’s progression has continued through his last eight years on the road as a solo acoustic guitar wizard, playing for packed houses and crowds who have come to realize that Tim is not just Dave’s sideman; he is one of the most talented, amazing, and thoughtful players on the circuit today.

Having explored most musical styles, from rock to jazz and flamenco to reggae, Tim makes use of every instrument with his wide-ranging musical ability and rises above the mere mastery of chops to a virtual state of communion with whatever instrument he happens to be holding. He is a self-taught master of the sitar, solo jazz guitar, solo djembe, twelve string guitar, violin, and mandolin, along with his acoustic and electric guitars. His many influences, which include Carlos Santana, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley, and Led Zeppelin, among others, are indirectly felt in the fabric of Tim’s power trio and solo projects.

After living in New Mexico for the last eight years, Tim recently relocated to the Outer Banks of North Carolina where he ran across two musicians, bass player Mick Vaughn and drummer Dan Martier, who would eventually form this latest version of TR3, his favorite project. After a chance meeting of these three talented players, a few rehearsals and several stealth appearances around the North Carolina shore Tim realized it was time to get back to the basics of rocking out the way only Tim can. Once again things have come full circle and TR3 is back to rock and funk the house down. Their songs are a mix of updated Tim classics to wild covers of everything from James Brown to Prince to TR3′s newest catalogue of material.