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The Jim Self & John Chiodini Quintet: Touch and Go
by Jack Bowers
A quintet whose front line consists of tuba, guitar and trumpet. How does that work? Quite well, actually--at least when that front line includes tuba master Jim Self, guitarist John Chiodini and trumpeter Ron Stout, ably supported by bassist Ken Wild and drummer Kendall Kay, on the Jim Self and John Chiodini Quintet's album, Touch and Go. The music they make can best be described as smooth and tasteful--although “swinging" would not be out of place either, ...
read moreJim Self: My America 2: Destinations
by Jack Bowers
Tuba maestro Jim Self's My America 2: Destinations is a successor of sorts to the album My America, recorded and released some twenty years before, also on Self's Basset Hound label. While personnel has inevitably changed (only trombonist Bill Booth returns from that earlier album), Self has employed the services of the same arranger, Kim Scharnberg—and thank goodness for that! Although Self and his eleven-member supporting cast acquit themselves well, it is Scharnberg's ingenious charts that make this engine run. ...
read moreJim Self: Hangin' Out
by Richard J Salvucci
One can be forgiven for not knowing a saxhorn from a saxophone, or, for that matter, whether a particular horn is a member of a certain family. Yes, there are aficionados (not to mention serious players) who can quite accurately describe the histories of the instruments, their lineages, and their peculiarities or idiosyncracies. Yet for many, it is difficult to distinguish a cornet from a trumpet. With a clever choice of mouthpiece, an adept instrumentalist can render them basically indistinguishable ...
read moreThe Jim Self / John Chiodini Duo: Hangin' Out
by Jack Bowers
Hangin' Out is the third album by the unlikely duo of Jim Self on tuba and John Chiodini on guitar. This time around, they hang out on five of the thirteen numbers with special guests--trombonist Scott Whitfield, tenor saxophonist Tom Peterson, baritone saxophonist David Angel and flugelhorn player Ron Stout, each of whom has a feature number before joining the leaders for a full-fledged jam on the lyrical finale, Johnny Burke/Jimmy Van Heusen's enduring standard, “It Could Happen to You," ...
read moreThe Biscodini Organ Trio: Lockdown
by Doug Collette
With Lockdown, the Biscodini Organ Trio don't exactly reinvent the instrumental concept at the heart of its name, but the album does go a long way in reminding us of its self-renewing nature. The collective light touch tendered by this guitar/keyboard/drums ensemble taps the potential of the format in such a way both the material and its musicianship sounds equally fresh and infectious. This reaffirmation of one of the most viable concepts in jazz is all the more ...
read moreDavid Angel: Out on the Coast
by Jack Bowers
David Angel, one of the West Coast's best-kept secrets, earns a long-overdue hour or three in the sun and makes every moment count on Out on the Coast, a superlative three-disc anthology that bundles fifteen of his luminous original compositions with seven jazz standards in an invariably pleasurable and charming package. When not teaching, writing or arranging, at home or abroad, Angel has led a Los Angeles-based rehearsal band for more than half a century. A list of alumni reads ...
read moreDavid Angel Jazz Ensemble: Out on the Coast
by Troy Dostert
Every now and then one runs across musicians or composers who are well-known by their peers, or who have carved out loyal followings regionally, but who at the same time have for whatever reason escaped the notice of the wider jazz community. Los Angeles-based saxophonist/bandleader David Angel would certainly fall into that category, despite a career going back to the 1970s, not only in jazz but in film, television and studio work, in addition to his regular participation in various ...
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