I've just been hearing some pretty honorable tuba playing on "Pipe Dreams" on NPR. It was a piece where the composer had some California wines in mind, and it was being played by an organ and other instruments at Cal Tech. I didn't catch the name of the ensemble, but the tuba solos were well played!
EDIT: This is the group, it turns out: http://www.presidiobrass.com/about-presidio-brass.html" target="_blank