Sims, a blues…
By Sherry Sung
Flushing resident Bill Sims and the American Acoustic Roots Orchestra will continue the “Passport To Music” concert series at 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 9 at the Brooklyn-Queens Conservatory of Music in celebration of Black History Month.
Sims, a blues musician, will perform African-American music ranging from gospel to jazz to funk at 42-76 Main St. in downtown Flushing. The “Passport To Music,” created by the Conservatory in 1998, presents a series of concerts several times a year to celebrate the multicultural community of Queens.
Starting his career at age 14 as a pianist for the Jacksonian Blues, an R & B group in his home state of Ohio, Sims, now 51, left the band years later to study music at Ohio State University.
Shortly afterwards, he joined the R & B singing group, The Four Mints, where he opened shows for Jerry Butler, Earth, Wind & Fire, and other top artists. The musician then moved on to The Lamorians, an avant-guard improvisational jazz ensemble that relied heavily on African drumming.
After the group broke up, Sims moved to Queens with his family, where he later created Bill Sims’ Cold-Blooded Blues Band as a pianist-turned-singer.
He is perhaps remembered most for his 1999 role in “An American Love Story,” which documented a year in the lives of the Sims family after 25 years in Queens. The soundtrack for this epic series included songs from Sims’ self-titled CD released the same year. The tunes of artists Albert King, Keb Mo, Big Bill Broonzy, and Howlin’ Wolf can also be found on this track.
“This album for me is the history of American music as I heard it growing up in the Midwest, with each tune representing a different period of blues and soul from the ’20s through the ’70s,” Sims said in a promotion for the concert, “and even a bit to modern hip-hop.”
“A lot of American music is black-oriented,” he added in an interview with the Times-Ledger.
When asked what he thought of rap music, the artist said that it decries “social injustice” by “commenting on the black situation in America.”
“Rap music is the blues of today,” said Sims.
“Black History Month is sharing the black contribution to American musical history,” the musician continued, “Black-American music is really world music. It’s a great part of the celebration of Black History Month.”
Sims lives in Flushing with his wife and four children.
The American Acoustic Roots Orchestra is lead by Sims as singer and guitarist, with Brian Mitchell on the piano and accordion, Tony Mason on the drums, Kenny Rampton on the trumpet, George Mitchell on bass, and Clark Gayton on the trombone and sousaphone.
Tickets to the event are $5, which can also be purchased at the door.
The Brooklyn-Queens Conservatory of Music also offers lessons for the experienced to the inexperienced, and everyone in between.
The Conservatory is located on Main Street, the last stop on the #7 train. If traveling by the Q20A/B bus, take it to Main Street and Blossom Avenue.
For more information about the concert, call 461-8910.
