John Tutino’s Story: How Unexpected Falls Only Lift Us Higher
The dimly lit musical venue welcomes you as an overpowering melody draws you in. Shadows dance on each table from the flickering of candlelight and musical vibrations. Wine glasses distort images of graceful fingers and gently parting lips. Spoons clink in coffee cups, circular motions that unwind the day. Music envelopes your senses and grabs a hold of you - the sax hits a note that you feel in your heart. The gentle, quick tapping of cymbals reverberates like brass snakes hidden under desert rocks, warning others in harmonic unison. The bass guitar pulls at you until you feel the rhythm through your entire body. The saxophonist’s black fedora hat and smooth transcendence from a low note to a high one transports you back in time. You’re now elsewhere, immersed in a historic underground scene, just missing the thick, hazy smoke of the 60s Beatnik generation. The intensity is so powerful that it could make emotions roll from your eyes and down your cheeks. You’re lost in music notes and hanging on for dear life, as if your heart depends on the beat to continue its own. This is JT Jazz.
When jazz musician John Tutino first discovered guitar, he was around eight years old and growing up in New York. Not long after, it was the 80s, and Rush, Eddie Van Halen, and Stevie Ray Vaughn quickly convinced him to trade his acoustic guitar for an electric one. He soon plunged into a world of garage band rock with friends. Along with a natural penchant for music, John excelled at math and science, so much so that he originally applied to aeronautical engineering schools for college. “I got accepted to a couple of them, but I just loved music,” says John. “I was like, oh man, I'd love to go to Berklee College of Music in Boston.” After some inquiries from his mom about why he wasn’t interested in engineering, his father convinced her to let John pursue what he really loved. “My mother came around,” notes John. “She was completely supportive. I completed about three years and then came back to New York where I grew up. I planned to take a year off and then go back.”
One year turned to two and then five and then 10. Needing to earn a living and support himself, John got into real estate and started his own business. “I was kind of stuck,” he says. “Ten years after I left Berklee, it was 2001. I saved a lot of money because I had this business that was becoming successful. I was like, that’s it. I'm going back.” John found his way back to Berklee, working remotely from his Massachusetts apartment with a laptop and a fax machine. “I ran my business from afar in Boston. I finished that school year, and then I graduated a year later with magna cum laude honors,” he says. After finally achieving his goal, John found himself swimming in similar waters. He returned to New York and continued with real estate, teaching music lessons and playing gigs. “I did that for years,” he explains, “years and years and years.” When John hit 40, he had enough of the cold and gloomy New York winters. He sold his house, packed his bags and headed to sunny Florida. John soon discovered the South Florida music scene, lining up gigs around town and playing at open mic nights.
“One night I was playing in a club in Delray Beach called Johnny Brown’s. This freak thing happened,” John remembers. “It was a fun party atmosphere. I was playing the saxophone. I got coaxed by the guitar player to climb onto a table to play. I don’t know why I did that, because I had never done that ever,” he laughs. “Well, I fell trying to climb onto the table. When I hit the ground, I jumped back up without missing a beat and kept playing. I was really embarrassed. The whole place clapped and cheered, but I was red in the face. I thought it was the most embarrassing moment ever.”
After the set, an older gentleman approached him. John recalls, “The man said, ‘I saw your fall. I saw you jump back up. It was amazing. I can’t believe you did that.’ He asked me for my business card. Three months later, he called me and said, ‘Remember me? From when you fell at Johnny Brown’s? Well, our sax player has just been fired, and I’m in a touring band. We want to know if you want to audition in New York?’” John enthusiastically accepted the offer and booked a ticket back to his home turf. “The band was called The Bronx Wanderers,” he says. “Now they are a famous Vegas act. At the time, they were up and coming. So I did their show in upstate New York at this big resort with 1200 people, and I had never played with them before. I learned the songs, but I had never practiced with them. I had to go out on stage and know every song and where to play and what to do - just by watching their videos,” he confesses. “And I did it. They hired me in the dressing room after the show.”
John once again packed up his stuff, this time putting everything in a Florida storage unit. He spent the next three years touring out of New York and Florida. During his time with the band, John performed in over 30 states and played 450 gigs. At his third gig with the band, John was back living in New York. “I was in southern New Jersey at a big, old theatre that old vaudeville acts used to be in,” he recollects. “We were on the bill with an Elvis tribute band. The leader of our band tells me that our biggest and most devoted fans would be watching at the venue, and I am going to meet them after the show. It’s a granddaughter, her mother and her grandmother. My wife, Teri, was the granddaughter,” he smiles. “I met her in the lobby that night.”
John became friends with Teri, her mother and grandmother, and made sure to say hello whenever they played in New Jersey. “Her mother was dying of cancer at the time,” John reflects. “Her mother pulled me aside at one of the shows and said, ‘Please promise me that you’re going to regularly talk to my daughter Teri. I want you to promise me that.’ She died a week later. I felt bad because my father had died of cancer a few years earlier. I wanted to call Teri and talk to her. I knew that she was hurting. After that, we started talking every day.” They continued to speak often and see each other whenever he was in town. “After a year, we realized that we really liked each other,” John grins. “We were in Jersey, and I said to her, ‘I’m tired of touring. I’m going back to Florida. Do you want to move to Florida with me? And without even hesitating, she said, ‘Yea, no problem. When are we leaving?’” Thirteen years later, they still live in the same house. “Teri has been so fully supportive of my music career,” John says. “We are definitely soul mates.” They welcomed their son, Gianni, to the world four years after their big move, and he was also born with the gift of musical talent. He is already an incredible drummer, and he is only in elementary school.
Focused on supporting his family, John continued teaching lessons, playing gigs across town, and working in real estate. In 2019, John hit a milestone with his 50th birthday and an emotional wall. “Alright. So I hit 50,” he acknowledges. “In my life, I toured. I went to Berklee. I’ve played thousands of gigs. I read my Berklee newsletter and saw young people getting Grammy nominations. I was like, ‘I thought my musical career would be different at 50. I was kind of in a musical funk. I wasn’t done. I didn’t quit, but I wasn’t happy where I was.” Although he was fulfilled with his family and home life, musically he felt depressed and like something wasn’t right. A few months later, John received an e-mail out of nowhere.
“The email said that they found me on Instagram,” he explains. “They loved my sound and wanted to offer me a record deal. I thought it was a joke.” But it wasn’t. After additional correspondence, Bentley Records from New York City signed John Tutino of JT Jazz with a record deal. “I don’t think it was a coincidence that they found me,” he discloses. John appealed to them because of his ability to play both the guitar and the saxophone, a unique combination of instruments for an artist. After that, everything fell into place.
A year later, Bentley Records released his first album for JT Jazz, Duality. The album includes originals written and performed by John, as well as standard covers of popular jazz pieces. During that time, he continued to play solo shows across South Florida and also performed with a jazz quartet. Things were looking up for John, and his career was gaining further momentum. And then Covid hit. Everything in life became delayed or paused indefinitely. Gigs were cancelled, businesses froze, and the world came to a standstill. However, when the world fell down, John jumped back up and kept playing. He used the hiatus to start writing again.
“I started really practicing to get to that next level of ability,” he says. “Bentley sends me monthly newsletters. I was getting regular emails from them about collaborations. Then I got an email that they were collaborating with Snoop Dogg. I said, ‘Of course I know Snoop Dogg. He’s from my generation!’ John responded immediately that he would love to do a collaboration. A few days later, they wrote back, “We’re sending you a contract. You’re in.”
After nine months of writing, working on songs and creating material, John sent an original song to three other Bentley artists who were part of the collaboration. “They approved my song,” he exclaims. “They chose my song!” After their approval, it took another eight months for it all to come to fruition. JT Jazz corresponded and worked with other artists and vocalists to create the track, “Carpe Diem.”
“So finally a few months ago, I got an email that everything was wrapping up soon. Now I feel so relieved,” relates John. “And I look back five years ago, when I was musically not in the place that I wanted to be. This is why you’ve got to hang in there. Look where I am now. I feel like this is just the beginning of the next chapter.”
As John turns this new, exciting corner with his career, he offers words of encouragement to any artist struggling with the emotional challenges that accompany the arts. “When you’re down in the dumps, you can be in a slump for years, but you can’t believe that’s the end. Ride the ups and downs. Ride the bumps. You’ve got to just go on that journey,” he states. “You’ve got to follow your heart and your talent. You have to follow your passion, but you also have to be good at something - or at least know that you have the talent to develop that. I’m just a living example of sticking with your craft, no matter what your age is. You might go several years where you feel like you’re not getting anywhere, but you are.”
“It’s hard these days because everyone is on social media,” he continues. “There’s so much noise. So my recommendation to people is that you have to have something different and unique to offer. That’s what’s going to differentiate you. Don’t conform and try to be like everybody else. Because if you conform, you’ll be just like a million other people out there. You have to be different and who you are. It sounds cliche, but find your own voice.” He adds, “Innovators who became legends never tried to fit in.”
He admits he struggled with insecurity early on, but his experience over the years helped him overcome that and develop his self-confidence. “You just have to get over your insecurity,” he explains. “Realize other people are entitled to their opinion and it has nothing to do with you. People just give you their temporary thought process, but a week later they don’t even remember that they made the comment. When I play, I pour my soul into it. I sound like me. My advice to you is to be confident in who you are and follow your passion for the joy of the journey.”
Along with planning future collaborations with other artists, John continues to perform gigs across South Florida and Palm Beach County. Whether it's teaching lessons or playing at private parties and public venues, John Tutino seizes each day and spreads his love of music with others. As he navigates the high and low notes of life, he is committed to his unwavering passion for music and to his biggest and most devoted fans, Teri and Gianni.
For additional information on John Tutino, his music, and his schedule, please go to johntutino.com or Linktree/JTjazz.
Streaming links for his new single “Carpe Diem” featuring Snoop Dogg can be found at:
Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/albums/B0F9LBLYZ6?marketplaceId=ATVPDKIKX0DER&musicTerritory=US&ref=dm_sh_PEMYh1BwOEIGMAHEMqV5Q9HAo
Pandora: https://pandora.app.link/vaPIJ971GTb
TIDAL: https://tidal.com/browse/album/437453734?
Deezer: https://dzr.page.link/NRDnH1XugCGn2MQY7
Article Written by Jenny Ross Koning