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Jared Sims

JARED SIMS performs on all of the saxophones as well as clarinet and flute. He has toured throughout the United States and in Europe, South America, Asia and India. Sims has performed live with an array of artists that include Han Bennink, Cecil McBee, Bob Brookmeyer, Stefon Harris, Landau Eugene Murphy, Temptations, Four Tops, Melvin Sparks, Soulive, Oteil Burbridge (Allman Brothers), DJ Logic, Kiddus I, Matisyahu, the 10,000 Maniacs, and Noel Gallagher (Oasis). Sims has also performed with large ensembles such as the Rhode Island Philharmonic, the Artie Shaw Orchestra, and the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra. He has been involved in jazz recording projects with Antonio Sanchez, Dave Liebman, Anat Cohen, Cecil McBee, and Matt Wilson. Sims has performed at Montreal Jazz Festival, Cleveland'sTri-C Jazz Festival, Flint (Michigan) Jazz Festival, Beantown Jazz Festival (Boston), New Haven (Connecticut) Jazz Festival, Quito Jazz Festival (Ecuador), Telluride (Colorado) Jazz Festival, and Northsea Jazz Festival in the Netherlands. Sims has appeared on more than 40 different recordings crossing multiple genres. His jazz recordings include Change of Address (2017 on Ropeadope Records) Layers (2016), The New Stablemates (2012 on Arabesque Records), Convergence (released in 2011), and Acoustic Shadow (released in 2009). He other recorded work includes music for theme parks, television commercials, and video games. Sims has performed on three recordings that were awarded four stars in DownBeat Magazine – Blueprint Project featuring Cecil McBee and Matt Wilson, People I Like with Han Bennink, and the Dead Cat Bounce recording Home Speaks to the Wandering. Sims has been an adjudicator and directed All State bands in several states. He has given clinics and master classes at the U.S. Navy International Saxophone Symposium, Cornell University, New Hampshire All State, Emerson College, the U.S. Navy Base in Norfolk, Universidad San Francisco De Quito (Ecuador), Boston Day and Evening Academy, Maine All-State Jazz Festival, and St. Francis Xavier University (Nova Scotia, Canada).

Sims earned a doctorate in classical woodwind performance from Boston University. His primary research topic was the Italian composer Berio and his Sequenza pieces. Other research was done in the areas of Igor Stravinsky, Charles Ives, and American popular music. Sims studied jazz and improvisation at the New England Conservatory of Music where he had the opportunity to study with the legendary George Russell and Gunther Schuller, the MacArthur “genius grant” recipient Ran Blake, and jazz powerhouses George Garzone and Jerry Bergonzi. Sims earned his undergraduate degree from West Virginia University.

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5
Album Review

Jared Sims: Hellbender: the Resistance

Read "Hellbender: the Resistance" reviewed by Geannine Reid


Saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist Jared Sims has taken a bold step with his latest project. Hellbender: The Resistance, released April 7, 2023, captures Sims' desire to blend the improvisational freedom of jazz with the intense rhythms of rock. Inspired by such groundbreaking jazz albums as Steve Grossman's Some Shapes to Come (PM, 1974) and Miles Davis' On the Corner) (Columbia, 19720, Sims also weaves in the deep grooves of dub reggae and funk music. For Hellbender: The Resistance, Sims ...

28
Album Review

Jared Sims: Against All Odds

Read "Against All Odds" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Any tenor saxophonist with the surname Sims is certain to draw the attention of a seasoned reviewer, if only out of curiosity. The first name in this instance is Jared, not Zoot (well, not John). As it turns out, Sims has an impressive resume as a performer, writer, educator and leader; Against All Odds is at least his tenth album as foreman of his own group. Jared Sims is a capable player who knows his way around a horn; what ...

4
Album Review

Jared Sims: Change Of Address

Read "Change Of Address" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky


Jared Sims isn't a purist, that's for sure. On Change Of Address, an album that marks his return to life in West Virginia after two decades spent in New England, he wields his baritone saxophone on a set of slick tunes that speaks to jazz's soul and funk extensions. Sims places his weighty horn squarely in the middle of an organ outfit, but he's not trying to take on the legacy of Ronnie Cuber or looking to juxtapose his bari ...

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4

Recording

Baritone & Tenor Saxophonist Jared Sims Tells His New York Story On Forthcoming Ropeadope CD, "The New York Sessions," Set For October 12 Release

Baritone & Tenor Saxophonist Jared Sims Tells His New York Story On Forthcoming Ropeadope CD, "The New York Sessions," Set For October 12 Release

Source: Terri Hinte Publicity

Jazz saxophonist and educator Jared Sims pays musical tribute to experiences that influenced his creative development on The New York Sessions, his fifth album as a leader. Set for release by Ropeadope Records on October 12, the disc is a post-bop quartet outing that comes 20 years after Sims was performing regularly at clubs like the Knitting Factory, Wetlands, and Brooklyn’s Tea Lounge. Joined on The New York Sessions by pianist Chris McCarthy, bassist Alex Tremblay, and drummer Evan Hyde, ...

1

Recording

Baritone Saxophonist Jared Sims Celebrates Return To West Virginia From Boston With New Quintet Session For Ropeadope, "Change Of Address"

Baritone Saxophonist Jared Sims Celebrates Return To West Virginia From Boston With New Quintet Session For Ropeadope, "Change Of Address"

Source: Terri Hinte Publicity

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 ...

"Trust me when I say: Sims is a real find. One of the most exciting saxophonists — and band leaders — I have heard in a long time. His compositions are faultless too." -Music Republic Magazine

Jared Sims has "got his game together, as Change of Address makes perfectly clear. West Virginia University is lucky to have him at the helm of its jazz studies program now.” -All About Jazz

Jared Sims "plays with power and tremendous dexterity." -thejazzpage.com "Warm, agile sound" -Artsfuse.org "Rugged, energetic playing" -Jazz and Blues Report “Jared's baritone pushes it all ahead with a stock of good ideas in a post-Pepper-Adams andbeyond mode

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Primary Instrument

Saxophone

Willing to teach

Beginner to advanced

Credentials/Background

I am the Director of Jazz Studies at West Virginia University and taught previously at University of Rhode Island, University of New Hampshire, Boston University, and Southern New Hampshire University. https://www.music.wvu.edu/jazz

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Hellbender: the...

Self Produced
2023

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Against All Odds

Origin Records
2022

buy

The New Stablemates

Arabesque Jazz
2012

buy

Chance Episodes

Cuneiform Records
2012

buy

Against All Odds

From: Against All Odds
By Jared Sims

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