Jeff Cotton

Jeff Cotton first came to attention as guitarist with Merrell and the Exiles, who had a few local hits in 1964 in the Los Angeles area. He subsequently joined Blues in a Bottle, which also featured future Magic Band members Mark Boston, Bill Harkleroad and John French. He was recruited into the Magic Band in 1967 as a replacement for Ry Cooder.

Jeff contributed unique and challenging bottleneck guitar to live performances, Strictly Personal, Mirror Man and Trout Mask Replica; for which he was credited as Antennae Jimmy Semens. He left the Magic Band in 1970 after being attacked by temporary and insane drummer Jeff Burchell during a group "talk" and having ribs broken, and having experienced the reclusive 8 months of rehearsals for Trout Mask Replica during which Beefheart experimented on the group members with sleep deprivation, food deprivation, and physical violence in an attempt to break their mental state down.

He renewed his professional relationship with Merrell Fankhauser (of The Exiles) in a band called MU.^[2] Despite a critically acclaimed album, there was no commercial success, and he retired from the music business in 1975 to study Christian Ministry. In 1981, long after the group had disbanded, a second LP of unreleased MU^[3] material was issued.

In 2022 a 50 year recording hiatus ended with his first solo album, The Fantasy of Reality.^[4]

He has three children.^[5]