John Chiodini

Jim Self: My America 3/My Country

by Jack Bowers
July 4, 2025

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 ...

The Jim Self-John Chiodini Duo: Feels So Good

by Jack Bowers
November 21, 2024

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 ...

The Jim Self & John Chiodini Quintet: Touch and Go

by Jack Bowers
November 1, 2023

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, ...

Jim Self: My America 2: Destinations

by Jack Bowers
January 15, 2023

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. ...

Jim Self: Hangin' Out

by Richard J Salvucci
June 11, 2022

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 ...

The Jim Self / John Chiodini Duo: Hangin' Out

by Jack Bowers
May 2, 2022

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," ...

The Biscodini Organ Trio: Lockdown

by Doug Collette
September 22, 2021

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 ...

Vocalist Tish Oney with the John Chiodini Trio release 'The Best Part' on Blujazz

Source: All About Jazz
August 29, 2019

The Best Part is jazz vocalist, arranger, composer, and producer Tish Oney’s fifth CD project. The music is a compilation of new original songs by contemporary jazz composers, including three never-before-heard songs with lyrics by jazz diva Peggy Lee. Oney's 2015 recording of original vocal/guitar duets titled Songs From the Heart, was honored by the Recording Academy on the 2016 first-round Grammy ballot in three categories, including “Song of the Year". Oney's previous albums, Sweet Youth, Dear Peg, and Forever ...
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Rip Crystal with John Chiodini at Gardenia Supper Club in Hollywood

Source: All About Jazz
June 3, 2007

Vocalist Rip Crystal will performing with jazz guitarist John Chiodini at the Gardenia Supper Club in Hollywood, Ca on Monday nights - June 11th, 18th and 25th. Call 323-467-7444 for more information.

Crystal's favorite music has always been the West Coast jazz of the late fifties and early sixties featuring artists like Gerry Mulligan, Stan Getz, Bob Brookmeyer and Clifford Brown. A few months ago Rip heard John Chiodini play the guitar and John heard Rip sing. They knew at ...
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