Jim Self is a Los Angeles-based freelance musician. He has been a freelance musician in Los Angeles since l974. Since then, he has performed for more than 1500 motion pictures as well as hundreds of TV shows and records. John WilliamaEUR(tm), Home Alone, Jurassic Park and Home Alone 2 are some of his major film scores. Hook was also one of his solos. Hook was the “Voice of the Mothership”, from Close Encounters of the Third Kind. You can also hear his solos in James Horner’s Casper and Batteries Not Included as well as Marc Shaiman’s Sleepless In Seattle and Jerry Goldsmith’s score to Dennis the Menace. Wall-E, Troy and Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events. Also, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. The Princess and the Frog. Toy Story 3. Bridges of Spies and Star Wars 7: The Force Awakens. Josh Grobin, Cassandra Wilson and Leon Redbone were among his many collaborators. Self was the tuba and string bass player in Jon Hendricks’ long-running L.A. production of “Evolution of the Blues”. Principal tuba positions are held by Self with the Pacific Symphony, Pasadena Symphony, and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. He is also principal tuba/cimbasso with the Los Angeles Opera Orchestra. This orchestra recently performed the Wagner Ring Cycle for two years and won a Grammy. Self released Children at Play in l983. The album features harmonica and jazz tuba, and has been widely acclaimed. High Fidelity magazine selected it as one of the top 10 jazz albums for that year. New Stuff (fusion Jazz) was also released on compact disc in l988. Both recordings are available on the Discovery-Trend label. In 1990, he released Tricky Lix, his third recording. It featured jazz legends Gary Foster, Warren Luening, and was also available on the Concord Jazz label. Summit Records released a 1992 all-classical CD, Changing Colors, in 1992. 1997 saw the release of The Basset Hound Blues, a jazz CD with Pete Christlieb on d’Note Records. Basset Hound Records released The Big Stretch in 1999. This album features original compositions by Self as well as others. The eclectic My America CD was then followed by arrangements of American songs by Kim Scharnberg. Self is assisted by a stellar band of L.A. studio musicians, and plays the FLUBA, his new horn. Self next recorded a quintet CD with Bill Scarlett, a great Tennessee tenor. InnerPlay was a jazz and strings CD featuring Gary Foster and Pete Christlieb, with arrangements by Brad Dechter. Jazz Times magazine named InnerPlay one of the 50 best jazz albums 2006. Self was also nominated that year for the Downbeat Critics Poll. Ron Kalina, a harmonica virtuoso and Self, released the next be-bop CD, The Odd Couple. Jim’s most recent CD is called ‘Tis The Season TUBA Jolly and it’s available on the Basset Hound label. It features the Hollywood Tuba 12, along with 20 Christmas arrangements featuring 29 top L.A. Area Euphonium and Tuba players. All of Self’s recordings and compositions are available from: www.bassethoundmusic.com. Self, a past president of I.T.E.A., was a former faculty member of The University of Tennessee, Principal Tuba, Knoxville Symphony, and was a former member of The United States Army Band, Washington, D.C. He was born in Franklin, Pennsylvania, and holds degrees from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Catholic University, and a Doctor of Music Arts from The University of Southern California Thornton School of Music, which is where he is an adjunct professor of chamber music and tuba. He was the founder of the USC Bass Tuba Quartet, which won the 1st prize in chamber ensembles at 2014 ITEC at Indiana University. He taught summer students at the Music Academy of the West and the Henry Mancini Institute, as well as the Hamamatsu Wind Festival and Academy in Japan for many years. He was also an adjudicator for the 2014 Jeju Festival Brass Competition. Harvey Phillips and Tommy Johnson were his primary teachers in tuba. Self was the leader and organizer of Tuba Christmas Los Angeles for 35 years, from 1976 to 2011. He hosted and organized the First Regional Tuba Euphonium Conference in 1974, his final year at the University of Tennessee. He hosted and organized the 3rd International Tuba Euphonium Conference, which he hosted at the University of Southern California in 1978. He founded The Los Angeles Tuba Quartet in 1976 with Roger Bobo, Tommy Johnson and Don Waldrop. Later, Los Tubas was formed, which is a loose group of L.A. tuba players. He sponsored Creative Tuba Scholarships for several years at American universities. He established the biannual Jim u0026 Jamie Self Creative Award through ITEA in 2011. Gene Pokorny invited Self to perform a week’s worth of Symphonie Fantastique in December 2008. ClefSelf won the Emeritus award in l987 and was voted three times the Most Valuable Player Award of Tuba by National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. ClefSelf was awarded the Indiana University of Pennsylvania Distinguished Alumni Award in March 2003. This university-wide honor is only granted to 290 of more than 120,000 alumni. Self received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Tuba-Euphonium Association of the Cincinnati Conservatory in June 2008. He was also presented with the 1st Roger Bobo award for excellence in recording (Jazz), for his CD InnerPlay. He was presented with the Harvey Philips Award of Excellence in Composition at Linz Austria’s next ITEC. It was for his composition for 8 tubas (drums), Woojoo. Self is a professional tubist and has a doubling career. He plays the contra-bass trombone and bass trombone and, rarely, string and electric basses. The FLUBA is his latest instrument. It’s an original design. It is unique and a great instrument for solo playing. Self is the author and editor of “Doubling For Tubists” chapter in The Tuba Source Book. He enjoys flying his 1973 Piper Arrow, sometimes for gigs. Self is also an arranger and composer. Self has over 60 titles for brass and string music, chamber music and works for orchestra, band, solo tuba, trombone, and orchestra. He was commissioned by the Pacific Symphony to create a feature piece for their orchestra, Tour de Force: Episodes for Orchestra. It was performed to great acclaim at the Renee u0026 Henry Segerstrom Hall in Orange County, April 17-20 2008. Since then, he has been awarded “Tour de Force for the Wind Ensemble”. Jack Stamp was the east co-premier at Indiana University of Pennsylvania in September 2009. The west premiere was at USC March 2010 with H. Robert Reynolds conducting. The Brass Band version of the song was performed at 6 concerts by River City Brass Band, with James Gourlay conducting. Sergio Carolino (Portuguese tuba virtuoso) is a champion for Self’s music. He has performed, recorded, and commissioned many of his works. Jim and Jamie Self endowed scholarships at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, The University of Tennessee, and five scholarships to the Legacy Brass Quintet at IUP. They established a Creative Tuba Award through ITEA in 2012 and gave seed money to ITEA for a general endowment. Jim also commissions new works for the USC Bass Tuba Quartet. Self is a frequent solo performer. His concerts and clinics offer a unique blend of jazz and classical music and reflect his diverse experiences as a composer, performer, teacher, and musician. Jim Self is a Yamaha performing artist. from www.bassethoundmusic.com
