"Floating in Winter" Notes from Jim Self: This recording was inspired by the musical connection between John Chiodini and me. We met playing on David Angel’s 13 piece jazz band. I loved John’s playing and he was complimentary about mine. I suggested getting together to play. It was magic! We really hit if off personally and musically and our sound together was special. Just tuba and guitar seems odd but it turned out to be a beautiful sound so we decided to make this recording. Each of us wrote one original for the CD. My tune is Floating and his is Winter. We rehearsed the music during the wettest winter in Los Angeles in many years—hence the title Floating in Winter. The rest of the songs are hip standards from the Great American Songbook. John and I have a wide palate of musical interests and these songs reflect our love of great melodies and interesting chord changes. I have had a wonderful career of playing with great singers in concerts, in the studios, at Los Angeles Opera and have had the good fortune to play and record with many of the world’s finest singers from Placido Domingo and Renee Fleming to Frank Sinatra, Mel Torme, Barbra Streisand, Jon Hendricks and even Paul McCartney and Leon Redbone. Great singers turn me on! The way vocalists phrase, shape notes and project emotion has always inspired me. Being a tuba player I have to create my own melodic reality. Playing jazz on the tuba is my first musical love but there are inherent problems. The tuba is a low instrument and, to be free to play any jazz notes, I have needed to play a lot in the high register to avoid clashing with the bass or left hand of the piano. This pairing with guitar frees up the low part of my instrument and the natural blend of the two instruments is a warm and rich sound. My first instrument was the guitar and, if I could, I would want to play like John. Having this duo with him is a joy and finding such a great accompanist as John Chiodini was all I needed to open up my ears. John Chiodini is a wonderful guitarist, a long time studio musician in Los Angeles, toured and recorded with many great singers like Peggy Lee and did the “Unforgettable” world tour with Natalie Cole. Other artists with whom John has toured and/or recorded include: Maynard Ferguson, Tony Bennett, Shirley Horn, Hubert Laws, Diane Schuur, Nina Simone, Barbra Streisand, Nancy Wilson and many others. He hails from Rhode Island and, as a young man, played with the Boston Pops and the Maynard Ferguson Band. In the LA jazz and studio scene he is highly respected and in demand for movies and record dates. His “Weightless” CD on MCA is a powerhouse of modern guitar playing. With John in the rhythm section you don’t need a drummer or a bass player. His time and grooves are so easy to play with. He just brings me into his classy musical cocoon and I love it! We also found out that we have similar tastes in humor, world outlook and a mutual love of history. This special feeling shows in our music making. John and I share a love for all kinds of jazz from swing and Latin to ballads and fusion. This CD includes 15 songs covering much of that musical landscape. We collectively chose great songs and made “head” arrangements that we recorded live at Tritone Studio with highly respected jazz engineer Talley Sherwood. In typical jazz style I usually play the melodies and we each solo. I play the bass lines under the guitar solos and John comps under mine--and then we play the head out—like an intimate jazz concert. All of John’s solos are gems. We discovered that we ended up with two songs each by five of the greatest jazz composers of all time. From Jerry Mulligan we have the swingin’ Festive Minor and the bopish ¾ News from Blueport. Mulligan has always inspired me. He played the Bari-Sax (which has a similar range as the F tuba)—plus his melodic style of improvisation appeals to me. We also chose two Henry Mancini tunes with gorgeous melodies and changes: Two for the Road and A Slow Hot Wind --(the two hippest in my opinion). I knew Hank and worked on several of his motion picture scores. He was a real musician’s musician and loved the tuba. He wrote many cool parts for the late, great Tommy Johnson in his Mancini Generation TV series. I also remember playing several Pacific Symphony Pops concerts with Mancini where he featured the tuba on his arrangement of Amazing Grace. From Thelonius Monk we chose the laid back blues Blue Monk, and his tribute to Bud Powell, In Walked Bud—among the greatest of this musical giant’s tunes. In the 1960’s I fell in love with the Bossa Nova--especially the music of Antonio Carlos Jobim. Two of my favorites are Look to the Sky and So Danco Samba. John and I explored several modulations in these to give them a different twist. Finally we decided to do two Chuck Mangione tunes for the CD, Children of Sanchez and Land of Make Believe. These iconic songs made a big impression on me when he first recorded them. Mangione played the Flugel Horn which, after all, is really a soprano tuba. A few years ago I had a special instrument made by Robb Stewart. I call it the Fluba—really a tuba-sized Flugel Horn. When I play it I imagine that I am Art Farmer, Clark Terry or Chuck Mangione. For these songs John played his 12-string guitar—and no drummer is needed when he plays time. Both are high energy for sure! We also recorded five other special songs. Years ago I found the lovely tune Jamie in an ancient fake book. Jamie is the name of my beautiful wife and partner and I always wanted to record it for her. I finally found out that it was written by Dmitri Tiompkin for the movie, A Bullet is Waiting. Our version is as a slow ballad with John giving it an almost folksong approach in the guitar. Nobody Else But Me is Jerome Kern’s song from Showboat. I discovered that it was not in the original show but added for the movie version in the late 40’s. Word has it that Kern hated it when jazz musicians played his songs. But, in my opinion, it is a perfect medium jazz swing tune. Our performance was inspired by David Angel’s arrangement that featured a beautiful flugel horn solo by Ron Stout. Probably the most recorded of Frank Rosolino’s songs is Blue Daniel. It is unique in that the last bar turns into the first bar (31 bars)—but it seems natural. I had always heard and played it as a medium jazz waltz (as we did here) and was surprised to hear Frank’s own recording as an up-tempo be-bop tune. In his day he was the greatest jazz technician on the trombone. I heard him a couple of times with Super Sax at Donte’s but never met him until November 26, 1978. That day I played a TV scoring session with him at the old Disney Studio. I played bass trombone and he sat next to me on lead. Frank was very friendly to me. Fatefully, that same night, his life ended in tragedy. Finally John and I each contributed an original for the album. He wrote the haunting ballad Winter that features him on acoustic guitar with my tuba playing the melody and bass line under his solo. My song is Floating. It is in a more modern groove with that ‘floating’ quality that comes from the interplay of ¾ and 6/8 meters (hemiola). The tuba melody has wide skips and sometimes seems to “hang” in the air. As on all of my CDs we end with Dog Tags—featuring our late basset hound Stanley’s mournful howls. From John Chiodini: I love the sound Jim makes. He has a wonderful sense of melody and he swings. It was so easy making music with him - great fun. So glad he called me for this. This recording is dedicated to our friend David Angel. His jazz band is uniquely swinging and hip with all 13 musicians playing contrapuntal lines and soloing. David inspires me to grow as a jazz musician and is one of the most respected composer/arrangers in Los Angeles. Instruments: Jim: Yamaha 822S F Tuba( custom made by Shuichi Kojima) Fluba (built by Robb Stewart from Yamaha parts) John: Epiphone electric guitar (Joe Pass Model) Ovation 12 string acoustic electric guitar (custom model) Adamas Nylon String Acoustic electric (custom model) Produced by Jim Self Recorded and Mixed April/May 2017 at Tritone Studio, Glendale CA by Talley Sherwood--assisted by Harriet Tam Mastering: Peter Doell, Aftermaster Studios, Holly, CA Cover Art: Christian Bond Package Design: Dave Amason Special thanks: Winston Morris, Kyle Mendiguchia, Bill Booth, Joe Self, Jamie Self,, Sergio Carolino, John Pisano and to Harvey Phillips, George Roberts and Sam Pilafian for inspiration. Jim Self is a Los Angeles free-lance musician, a veteran of thousands of Hollywood motion pictures, television shows and records, and tuba soloist on many prominent movies. His tuba was the “Voice of the Mothership” in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. He is Principal Tuba with the Pacific and Pasadena Symphonies, and the Los Angeles Opera and Hollywood Bowl Orchestras. Jim has composed over 60 works and produced 14 solo jazz and classical recordings. All of Jim Self’s CD and compositions are available at www.jimself.com Jim Self is a Yamaha Performing Artist