Baritone Saxophonist Jared Sims
Celebrates Return to West Virginia
From Boston
With New Quintet Session
"Change of Address"
Celebrates Return to West Virginia
From Boston
With New Quintet Session
"Change of Address"
Ropeadope Records Will Release the CD,
Sims's 5th Album as a Leader,
April 14
Sims's 5th Album as a Leader,
April 14
CD Release Shows Scheduled for
4/14 James Street Gastropub, Pittsburgh;
4/27 The Bitter End, NYC; 4/28 Third Life Studio, Boston
4/27 The Bitter End, NYC; 4/28 Third Life Studio, Boston
March 16, 2017
After two decades in New England, where multi-reed virtuoso Jared Sims
made his mark as an instrumentalist, bandleader, educator, and
all-around musical provocateur, Sims celebrates his return to West
Virginia with Change of Address, his fifth album as a leader. On the new CD, which will be released April 14
by Ropeadope Records, Sims sticks to his favorite instrument -- the
baritone sax -- in the company of an airtight, organ-dappled quintet.
Change of Address commemorates
Sims's homecoming to his alma mater, West Virginia University in
Morgantown, which has named him Director of its Jazz Studies Department
20 years after he earned his own jazz studies degree there.
The music on the album is notable for instilling the jazz-soul tradition with an up-to-the-minute
sensibility and is deftly interpreted by the leader, joined by an
intriguing collection of players for whom he wrote its tunes,
Ellington-style. They include the wife-and-husband team of organist Nina Ott and bassist Chris Lopes (a longtime crony of guitarist Jeff Parker), and a pair of young Boston-area veterans in guitarist Steve Fell and drummer Jared Seabrook (older brother of guitar provocateur Brandon).
Among the highlights on Change of Address are "Ghost Guest 1979,"
which showcases a full range of textural effects from Fell and seamless
interaction between bass and Hammond B-3; the sprightly, wide-open "Lights and Colors"; and "Forest Hills," inspired by the Boston neighborhood in which he lived.
Sims (b. 1974) started playing the baritone in the fifth grade in his hometown of Staunton, Virginia, but only became dedicated to
this most colossal of saxes after bringing a tenor to a class at the
New England Conservatory (NEC) and having his instructor chide him he
would never be great on it because he would be following in the
footsteps of too many legends.
Far from taking offense, Sims took his teacher's words to
heart. "There are a lot of gold standards on tenor," he says. "I was
trying to find a way to move past those influences. Playing the baritone
felt really natural to me. I felt like I could do something personal
and interesting with it." A compelling example of this is Sims's "Seeds of Shihab," a tribute to baritone great Sahib Shihab, which like the other tracks on Change of Address luxuriates in the brawny, bottom-rich sound of the instrument.
Sims attended his first jazz concert, by Michael Brecker, in tenth grade, and saw the World Saxophone Quartet
perform the following year. His fascination with the saxophone went
"over the top" after he spoke with members of the WSQ following the
show.
At WVU, he had a strong saxophone teacher in David Hastings,
who schooled him in traditional styles. At NEC, where he played
clarinet in addition to baritone, alto, and tenor, he tried to catch up
to all the kinds of music he hadn't been exposed to, including Third
Stream, under the wing of distinguished faculty members Gunther Schuller, George Russell, and Ran Blake.
Sims went on to study for his doctorate in classical music performance at Boston University, where his lecture recital was on the modern Italian composer Luciano Berio and his solo Sequenza pieces. He also did research work on Igor Stravinsky, Charles Ives, and American popular music.
While in Boston, where he earned a reputation as a "saxophone
colossus," Sims roomed for four years with standout baritone
saxophonist Charlie Kohlhase, a cog in Either/Orchestra, who turned him onto Shihab. One of his mentors at NEC was Allan Chase, with whom he continues to play in a band, Blow-up!,
dedicated to the music of bebop baritone legend Serge Chaloff (they
recorded in March 2017). He also played in numerous Boston-based bands
including the Afro-Latin group Mango Blue (in which he continues to perform); the organ funk outfit Akashic Record; Blueprint Project with guitarist Eric Hofbauer, and the jazz-rock quartet Miracle Orchestra. The list of artists he has collaborated is an eclectic one and ranges from the late Bob Brookmeyer, Han Bennink, Matt Wilson, Dave Liebman, and Anat Cohen to the Temptations, 10,000 Maniacs, and Oasis's Noel Gallagher.
Sims made his recording debut as a leader with the trio effort Acoustic Shadows (2009). He followed it with another three-man outing Convergence (2011), the collective quartet album The New Stablemates (2012), and Layers (2016), on which he overdubs himself playing saxophones, clarinets, and flute on tunes by Ellington, Monk, and Mingus.
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