Jim Self: My America 3/My Country

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 hospitable music, penned by such well-known and celebrated tunesmiths as Dolly Parton, Jimmy Webb, Willie Nelson, Charlie Daniels, Hank Williams, Johnny Cash and Merle Travis, to which Self and Scharnberg have added "Wabashed" (a delightful blend of "Wabash Cannonball" and "Orange Blossom Special"), the University of Tennessee fight song "Rocky Top" and one of Self's robust original compositions, "Chompin' at the Bit," which gets the party under way with the sound of a horse's whinny, leading to crisp ensemble work and stalwart solos by guitarist Steve Fister, steel pedal guitarist Doug Livingston, Self on fluba and fiddler Chris Woods.

"Wabashed"—a colorful showcase for ace drummer Joe La Barbera, among others—is next, followed by Parton's soulful "Jolene" (solos by Self and Fister), Webb's ardent "Wichita Lineman" (Self, fluba; Kye Palmer, flugelhorn; Bill Cunliffe, piano) and the high-kicking "Rocky Top" (Woods, Self, Livingston, guitarist John Chiodini and bassist Mike Valerio with "borrowed" snippets from Cole Porter's "You're the Top" and the Israeli folk song "Hava Nagila"). Listen especially for the clever techniques LaBarbera uses to mirror the sound of a locomotive on "Wabashed," which includes heavy-duty solos by Self, Cunliffe, tenor saxophonist Steve Marsh and alto Phil Feather before the ensemble blends as one to "hold that tiger."

Self and Chiodini carry the ball on Willie Nelson's ballad "Crazy," which leads to Daniels' saucy "The Devil Went Down...," more likely better known as "Sweet Georgia Brown." Woods, Self, Marsh and Palmer, this time on trumpet, share solo space, while Self (tuba) and Cunliffe do the same on Williams' sorrowful "Your Cheatin' Heart," which shifts midstream into a charming Latin groove. Cash's scampering "Folsom Prison Line" is yet another treat, as are the solos by Chiodini, Self, Cunliffe and trombonist Bill Booth. Of course, no album saluting country music would be complete without a bow to Merle Travis' (and later, Tennessee Ernie Ford's) blockbuster hit written in 1947, "Sixteen Tons," sung (sort of) by the ensemble's nine-member "choir" while Self provides melodic counterpoint.

The curtain rings down with another enduring country favorite, Gibson's mist-eyed "I Can't Stop Loving You," an impressive vehicle for Self's deep-throated tuba, followed by the requisite exclamatory barks from the leader's basset hound, Stanley. Despite its uncommon premise (or maybe because of it), My America 3 is another conclusive winner for the world's leading (and perhaps only?) jazz tuba virtuoso, the indomitable Jim Self, arranger Scharnberg and an all-star ensemble from southern Calfornia's rich storehouse of masterful sidemen. While there have surely been times when country music has sounded this good, My America 3 leaves no doubt that it has never sounded better.