What a great jam! RIP Kofi. We will miss you.
how about these two bad ass mothers...
Deepest condolences to Oteil and the entire Burbridge families as well as the extended musical family - ABB, TTB, et al.
From TTB Washington, DC - 2-15 and 2-16-19
Setlist and videos from the show
https://www.jambase.com/article/tedeschi-trucks-band-kofi-burbridge-warner-theatre-setlist-video-02-16-2019
And some other music Kofi played.
I remember him singing a song, up here on Long Island, in Farmingdale. I think Jaimoe's Jassz Band was opening for DTB, the title may not be right but some of the words were "thank you Lord for bringing me to my knees". It was a simple, beautiful tribute to being saved after being thru the worst of what life can bring you.
Rest in peace brother.
[Edited on 2/21/2019 by gina]
Wow, it's been a tough couple of years. Sending positive vibes Oteil's way, and to the dTb/TTB fams as well.
Live for Live Music found this posting from Oteil's blog from 2013 that I remember reading but had no idea where to find it.
POSTED BY OTEIL BURBRIDGE ON JANUARY 3, 2013
KOFI
Its tribute time again and I think before I go into my Bass guitar heroes any further that I have to take the time to pay homage to my first musical hero, my big brother, Kofi. He was the first musician that I saw play on a regular basis, my biggest influence, and my most important teacher. Fortunately I’m getting to play with him again on a regular basis.
They discovered my brother Kofi had perfect pitch when he was around seven years old. My parents were naturally elated and I’m quite sure my dad had him learning classical music and transcribing solos by all his favorite jazz musicians in no time. I think my dad’s only religion was music. He is a disciple of musics of myriad styles. Growing up we heard Jazz, Classical European, Gospel, Classical Indian, Opera, Folk, Country, R&B, and other styles on a daily basis. I think music was the only thing on earth my dad trusted and felt was totally honest, besides my mother. Deeply hurt by the racism of the culture, politics and religion he grew up with in the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s, he found his spiritual and emotional refuge in the commitment of his musical heroes to their craft. He actually played flute and wanted to be a professional musician himself but thought it too risky to raise a family with that career. He had one the the most interesting record collections I was ever exposed too. It wasn’t until I saw some of my friends’ parents’ record collections that I realized what an expert my dad was and how deep his passion really was for it. I had taken it for granted as with so many other things.
Imagine my dad being told by Kofi’s music teacher that his seven year old already has perfect pitch. I’m surprised it didn’t make him reconsider his atheo-agnosticism. It still seems like magic to me and most other mere mortals. I have relative pitch which means I can distinguish the interval between any two pitches, but I can’t tell you what the exact notes are, much less if they are in or out of tune! That’s what people with perfect pitch can do. They are a rare occurrence in humans. Well by nine years old Kofi was sitting with major jazz musicians like Donald Byrd and Ron Carter. He went off to music school in North Carolina at fourteen years old. That seemed like another country to me. Kofi was in the newspapers and on television in Washington, D.C. and was always amazing teachers and peers alike for as long as I can remember. Naturally he was my hero and I always wanted to be like him but although I exhibited a talent for music my parents felt they were taking a huge risk with Kofi as it was and didn’t want to gamble like that twice. Fortunately for me I didn’t realize just how much better than most people Kofi was so when I was practicing that was the standard I was holding myself to.
I can still hear the sound of Kofi practicing his classical flute exercises in the my head. Its one of my earliest memories of childhood. He was equally at home in the classical or jazz world. His talent combined with being exposed to and absorbing such complex music at such a young age revealed a young composer as well. One of the songs we recorded for Jimmy Herring’s first solo record was a song that Kofi wrote when he was in the tenth grade! I still want to record all of that old stuff that he wrote in high school and college. Its still really challenging music. I learned harmony and rhythm from learning Kofi’s originals that he wrote as a teenager. Each song was like a semester of music school. Kofi had a secret though, he always wanted to be a keyboard player. Not just pianist, a keyboardist. Kofi was and still is a huge tech head. He was in love with synthesizers and computers from the first. Anyone that knows Kofi knows how into sci-fi he is. He was into the Ray Bradbury, Robert Heinlen, and Arthur C Clarke books, Naturally he was totally into Star Trek and any kind of sci-fi on television. You can imagine what happened when he got his first laptop. This is a man that reads instruction manuals for fun!
Kofi loved jazz and classical but he also loved funk and rock. Keyboardists like George Duke, Joe Zawinul, Herbie Hancock, and Jan Hammer were some of Kofi’s favorites because they were fearless about exploring the latest technology through electric and electronic keyboards. They withstood criticism from purists and pressed on into new territory inspiring young minds like Kofi and myself. How lucky for me to have a brother that not only had such knowledge of the history of music past but also a passion for all things new and cutting edge. When he got his first synthesizer he was consumed with creating new sounds that were opened up to him. Later when he got a keyboard that could sample sounds and do sequencing he would create entire songs all inside the keyboard. You should hear some of the Straight Ahead Jazz stuff he did all inside his keyboards. I cut one of those songs on my first record. Its called Inside Outside. Maybe one day he’ll let me post the version that he did in his keyboard on the web so people can hear it. That’s probably the hardest stuff to recreate electronically but his drums tracks are swinging as hard as ever.
Kofi was so patient with me, giving me the keys to unlock the harmonic mysteries when I was young. I was a drummer and understood rhythm well but harmony was a whole other ball game. He used the music of Stevie Wonder and Maurice White of Earth Wind and Fire to teach me Jazz harmony because we all we’re singing those songs with the radio. Learning Kofi’s music taught me about odd time signatures, harmony, and composing among other things. Now that we are older and playing together on a regular basis again I’m hoping to record Kofi’s music from the various stages of his life. He has a library of compositions ranging from Funk to Jazz, Fusion to outer space music. Hopefully we can also explore his other “secret” passion which is doing music for an animated sci-fi series or video game. He’s never followed the path assigned to him. He’s been on another road that we couldn’t see and he’s still following it. Its a beautiful street to walk, bike or drive down if you have the time.
What a sad and unexpected loss. I knew he was off the road again and back in the hospital but....didn't imagine this. 57? Way too young.
Kofi has been a part of so many amazing times in my life listening to live music with friends. I tried to count the different venues I saw him at over the years starting in 1994 with ARU at the SuperJam in Athens and I got up to about 20. Outside of Susan, Kofi was probably the tightest musical mate of Derek's career. He wrote some of my favorite dTb songs, including Like Anyone Else.
And every time I met him he was super kind and humble. My friend who played bass in Atlanta bands for 20 years was in a side group with Kofi that had a standing gig at the Chit-Chat in Decatur. He wrote this weekend that Kofi was a real prince...as nice and genuine as they come in the music biz.
That same friend tells a story of moving to Atlanta with roommate Oliver Wood in the early 90s and with the goal of making it here in Atlanta. They walk into a bar in Sandy Springs on their first night because they know there is live music and Kofi, Oteil and Jeff Sipe are in the band. They said "Holy Smokes! If this is the talent level in Atlanta, we'll never make it!" They met those guys that night and stayed friends to this day.
Another life long friend and I were reminiscing about one of our most memorable shows this weekend.....Frogwings in December 1997 at the old Cotton Club in Atlanta. We went with modest expectations and were blown away like few shows we've ever attended.
Oh my. RIP Kofi. One of the good ones left us way too early.
No public comments that I can find yet from TTB or Oteil. Nothing on their websites, either.
Have to imagine this is weighing incredibly heavy with them as they work through it all - understandably so.
Tedeschi Trucks Band Facebook page:
"The world lost a true genius on Friday. Kofi was a beautiful man, loving friend, and brilliant musician. We are eternally grateful he came into our lives, sharing his many gifts and inspiring us both in music and life. With heavy hearts we will carry on in his spirit, and do our best to honor him and his legacy. He’ll be a part of us forever."
and
"Kofi Burbridge
September 22, 1961 - February 15, 2019
We will miss our brother"
TTB main website also has their Instagram pictures up of 3-4 Kofi Marquee pics (Warner, Beacon honored Kofi with messages) that also has the same statements.
Great article/obit on Kofi:
Great article/obit on Kofi:
Lots more tributes here including some very moving shots on the links to various people.
https://www.jambase.com/article/musicians-react-kofi-burbridge-death
Hey, Tim. Our musical experiences don't seem all that different growing up in/around ATL, although I think you had a couple years head-start on me. I'm not sure I could count the number of states in which I saw Kofi perform live, let alone venues.
I too was at that SuperJam show in 1994, which was the second or third show for ARU MkII (also one of Gov't Mule's earliest of shows). But the first time I saw Kofi live was a couple of months earlier (4/15/94 for anyone counting), at the Ga Theatre when he joined ARU for the last few shows with Bruce. The Ga Theatre ARU show was billed as Bruce's last show ever, and it was a heckuva party (although I believe they did 1 or 2 shows the following week to fulfill contractual obligations). Adding Kofi to the Bruce/Sipe version of ARU really filled out the sound and added something that had been missing the 6-7 months since Matt Mundy had quit the band. Adding the keys and also another soloist really filled it out and I would have liked to have seen that version of the band continue, at least for awhile.
Kofi joined ARU at the end of my freshman year in college, and I spent numerous weekends in college and a few years afterwards roadtripping around the Southeast to catch ARU shows whenever I had gas money and scheduling permitted it. I followed ARU around before getting into the ABB, but it was very similar getting hooked on it.
Kofi also used to respond to the old ARU listerv on Netspace, answering questions and popping in from time to time. Not unlike what Butch would do here on occasion. I always thought that was very cool of him.
After ARU fizzled out with Oteil joining ABB, I was delighted to see Kofi join dTb and bringing an additional level of professionalism to the band. His addition to the band really took them to the next level. I remember seeing him with them a few times at the Brandy House when that was a regular weekend of incredible music in an intimate venue. I don't know if it was Kofi's first gig with the band, but I do have a live show on CD-R from the Brandy House with the dual-keyboard and Javier lineup, from around April 1999. I think I will go dig that out and give it a whirl for the ears.
Great memories, and I'm thankful for all of the great music and great times Kofi provided. Really sad about his passing. RIP Kofi.
Oteil posted an update today:
I just read it and was coming to see if it had been posted . Powerful.
RIP Kofi---you will be missed. Loved listening to that Flute!!!!
Thanks for posting Oteil's tribute. It is lovely.
I look forward to hearing what Oteil does with the treasure trove of Kofi's music. I'd like to think Derek would be interested in helping some of that music become fully realized and released.
Kofi Burbridge was a musical genius and one of the greatest keyboardists and flutists of all time. His contribution to Derek's musical work is profound and vast. A complete master and virtuoso in every way, with deep humility and soul force- he was one of a kind. He brought us great joy every time he played.
Goodbye Kofi. Just like Oteil said, fly on Brother, fly on...
OM MANI PADME HUNG
RIP brother Kofi, God bless you and give you peace in the next life.
Ever since I met you in Jackson, Ms. On Halloween night w/ Derek
Trucks Band, I though you were a righteous cat. Adios amigo.
