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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 ReadingMike Barone Big Band: Brazil
by Jack Bowers
Brazil doesn't signify that the venerable California-based composer / arranger Mike Barone has gone Latin; it simply means that “Brazil" is the opening number and the name Barone chose for the latest in his long-running series of remarkable big-band albums. No matter, as a Barone recording by any other name would be every inch as inspired and exciting, thanks in large measure to his unerring control of the vehicle, not to mention his invariably radiant and resourceful charts.
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