{"id":3777,"date":"2025-06-18T12:32:33","date_gmt":"2025-06-18T17:32:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.stringsbymail.com\/articles\/?p=3777"},"modified":"2025-10-08T12:19:34","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T17:19:34","slug":"chieli-minucci-keeps-special-efx-name-and-spirit-going","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stringsbymail.com\/articles\/chieli-minucci-keeps-special-efx-name-and-spirit-going\/","title":{"rendered":"Chieli Minucci keeps Special EFX name and spirit going"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Ross Boissoneau<\/p>\n\n

Chieli Minucci has been a force in modern electric jazz for more than 40 years, since founding the band Special EFX with percussionist George Jinda in 1982. Either under his own name or that of the band he\u2019s released over 30 albums. He\u2019s played with pop artists Celine Dion, Lou Reed, Lionel Richie, Jennifer Lopez and Jewel as well as contemporary jazz artists Kirk Whalum, Maysa, Jeff Lorber, Norman Brown, Bernie Williams and numerous others. He has won three Emmy Awards and been nominated 10 times and contributed to film soundtracks and stage productions.<\/p>\n\n

From the start, Special EFX\u2019s music was a heady brew that combined rock, Latin rhythms, and instrumental jazz (go ahead, call it smooth if you must). When the duo separated in 1995, Jinda continued to perform under the name Special EFX, while Minucci recorded and performed under his own name. After Jinda’s death in 2001, Minucci reclaimed the band moniker, performing under the name Chieli Minucci and Special EFX or Special EFX All Stars.<\/p>\n\n

He’s weathered the sea changes in the industry, from new technology to label consolidation. \u201cWhen we started in 1982 we didn\u2019t know CDs were coming. CDs were a boom for a lot of us, plus the kind of music we played became popular. I raised a family doing fusion music,\u201d he says wonderingly. <\/p>\n\n

\"Chieli

Chieli Minucci<\/p><\/div>\n\n

\u201cNow I\u2019m glad I\u2019m not just starting out. There\u2019s way more competition. People can make beautiful recordings at home.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

These days he splits his performances between shows under his own name and the band name. \u201cIt\u2019s all kind of me,\u201d says Minucci. It all depends on the gig, whether he\u2019s hired to lead a local group or bring in a band. When it\u2019s the latter, he\u2019s typically billed as Chieli Minucci and Special EFX All-Stars. \u201cA good example is I played in Florida last year and did a show with Joel Rosenblatt on drums, Brian Bromberg on bass and Eric Marienthal on sax,\u201d says Minucci. \u201cThey knew a bunch of my songs, especially from the 80s. It was a super-high-intensity show.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

He often performs with keyboardist Lao Tizer under the band name \u2013 either his or Tizer\u2019s. \u201cI learned his music and do a couple of my tunes,\u201d he says. Recently, he was invited to headline a festival in Portugal, with saxophonist Nelson Rangell and keyboards by Jay Rowe, with a drummer and bassist from the German house band. <\/p> \n\n

Whatever the nom de plume, it always sounds like no one but Chieli Minucci. \u201cIt\u2019s another way of talking about the same thing,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n

He plays a 1984 Pensaseur with D\u2019Addario 009s. \u201cI\u2019m a D\u2019Addario<\/a> user for the most part.\u201d On his Gibson Les Paul he uses 10s and 9s, while for his Gibson 175T he prefers flatwound 12s.<\/p>\n\n

On acoustic he uses 12s from Labella, bronze strings with a coating of silk and steel. He also uses Labella nylon strings. Minucci has three guitars built by Dutch luthier Theo Scharpach.<\/p>\n\n

He recently released three new recordings: Return to Budapest With Love, a 1990 live concert recording of Special EFX from its early days on tour in Europe, a mainly acoustic solo project Someone\u2019s Singing, and his 40th anniversary Special EFX CD, Twenty Twenty 2.<\/p>\n\n

While the number of gigs have decreased as he\u2019s grown older and the fusion and smooth jazz he is identified with have faded in popularity, he loves playing as much as he ever has. \u201cI still like it like it\u2019s a hobby,\u201d Minucci says. \u201cI did 40 shows in 2023 That\u2019s a good amount. Last year it was about ten less.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cI recently saw some friends in the city, and was invited to get up there and play. There is nothing like it when you have a good sound on stage and the band is in synch with the audience.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Ross Boissoneau is a regular contributor to Something Else! Reviews, Northern Express and Local Spins. He’s written for the All Music Guide, Jazziz and Progression Magazines, and is a member of the Downbeat Critics Poll.<\/i><\/p>\n\n

\"Ross<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Ross Boissoneau Chieli Minucci has been a force in modern electric jazz for more than 40 years, since founding the band Special EFX with percussionist George Jinda in 1982. Either under his own name or that of the band he\u2019s released over 30 albums. He\u2019s played with pop artists Celine Dion, Lou Reed, Lionel […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interviews"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stringsbymail.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stringsbymail.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stringsbymail.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stringsbymail.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stringsbymail.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3777"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.stringsbymail.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3777\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3781,"href":"https:\/\/www.stringsbymail.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3777\/revisions\/3781"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stringsbymail.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stringsbymail.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stringsbymail.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}