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Jim Self: My America 3/My Country
by Jack Bowers
Tuba maestro Jim Self, who always has a creative trick or two up his ample sleeve, has subtitled the third volume of My America, his recorded tribute to the land of the free and the home of the brave, My Country, to which he could have added the word “music," as this is an album of country and western songs splendidly arranged for a fourteen-member jazz group by Kim Scharnberg. This is by and large bright and ...
Continue ReadingThe Jim Self-John Chiodini Duo: Feels So Good
by Jack Bowers
Tuba maestro Jim Self and gregarious guitarist John Chiodini unite for the fifth time on Feels So Good, a studio date whose title neatly encapsulates its upbeat vibe. Even though it seems at first blush that the tuba and guitar should be playing in different leagues, Self and Chiodini somehow make the odd mixture work. Self usually carries the melodic weight while Chiodini offers counterpoint and rhythmic support. The duo performs on eight of the session's thirteen numbers and is ...
Continue ReadingJim 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. ...
Continue ReadingJim 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 ...
Continue ReadingThe 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," ...
Continue ReadingThe Hollywood Tuba 12: 'Tis the Season TUBA Jolly!
by Jack Bowers
As would be anticipated, there's a lot of huffin' and puffin'--as well as a surprisingly wide range of color and modulation--on 'Tis the Season TUBA Jolly!, a delightful holiday album by tuba maestro Jim Self and the Hollywood Tuba 12. Its name notwithstanding, there aren't a dozen tubas present on any given track but a mere half- dozen, complemented by six of their close kinsmen, the euphonium, with percussionist Brian Kilgore and drummer Bernie Dresel raising the group's total size ...
Continue ReadingJim Self: InnerPlay
by Michael P. Gladstone
Jim Self has been an accomplished tuba player for many decades. Despite the fact that he spent several years in the Don Ellis Orchestra and his recorded history dates back to the early-1960s Jon Hendricks Evolution of the Blues session, most of his work has been on Hollywood sound stages. He has appeared on over 1,300 film scores, including his memorable appearance as the “voice of the Mothership" in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. In addition to taking the ...
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