Tea for Creatives: Bill Sims Jr.
Meet Bill Sims Jr. He is a guitarist, composer, songwriter, vocalist and all around blues man. In 2001 Sims won the OBIE award for his original compositions in the stage version of Rubin Santiago-Hudson’s “Lackawanna Blues,” which later went on to be adapted as a television movie. He is currently composing music for August Wilson’s “Jitney,” directed by Santiago-Hudson opening January 29th at Two River Theater in Red Bank, NJ.
Sims forthcoming album, and still I rise, to be released in February, was recorded in Paris with his group the Heritage Blues Orchestra, and includes vocals by his daughter Chaney Sims. You can also see Sims and his band live regularly around New York City.
To see Bill Sims Jr. lay down the blues or find out more about his work go to www.billsimsjr.com.
What does creativity mean to you and how has it defined your career?
I don’t think about creativity very much. I think that it’s something I was blessed with. If I knew how it worked I think I could sell it to other people. It’s something that is part of the universe that I am a part of. It’s a gift that was given to me. I don’t know how it works and I don’t think about it much.
How do you navigate the creative process?
It depends on the project I’m working on. Sometimes I’m hired to write for plays or something like that, those are the most difficult ones because you have to do something by a certain time, so it doesn’t come so naturally. I’m working on a play right now so I have to read the play over and over. Right from the beginning I have an idea where I want to go with it. I look the time period it’s set in. I look at the characters. I go to rehearsal and I’m probably one of the few composers or musical directors that go to every rehearsal. There is something that the actors are giving off because they are creating too and I want to be part of that process. So for hire it’s different.
For myself it comes just sitting with a guitar in my hand or sitting at the piano or in the gym when I’m on the treadmill. Sometimes a melody will come to me so I have all these little recording devices because my memory is getting bad. (Lol) So I’ll be in the car and a melody will come and I’ll start humming and I’ll pick up my recorder and hum it into the recorder. That’s just the way it is. It comes like that. But it’s different for every project. I don’t sit down and try and write a record. I let the record write itself. When I get about three or four songs I’ll have a theme and I’ll just go from there.
What is one of the greatest creative obstacles you have faced and how did you hurdle it?
Actually right now I’m in the middle of one and I’m not sure how I’m going to hurdle it. I have to write a song that the audience can respond to and participate in. It also has to translate into different languages because I’m doing a project that has sort of a world type feel. So what I’m doing now and what comes to me when you think about audience spontaneously responding to something, you look to the church. So I’m listening to a lot of spiritual music. I get up in the morning and start playing spirituals. I start playing chords that are I would hear in church; chords that you might hear behind a minister. So that’s how I’m getting through. It’s very hard to write a song that’s going to instantly identify with people that will make them want to clap and sing along and translates all languages. When I have trouble I go back to where I grew up and that’s the church. That’s where I got most of my musical training and all the stuff I’ve learned though going to music school. Sometimes it’s about going back to basic training.
Who is one of your favorite creative figures and how they inspired you and your creativity?
That’s easy. John Coltrane. His dedication to his craft, to his art, the way he sought out things that he thought were important to his craft. The way he sought out African rhythms and Middle Eastern tonal scales and things like that. I try to do the same. I’m a blues artist so I try to put my hand in everything that I think is associated with the blues. I have an organ trio, I do acoustic music, I have a harmonica player, I’m learning to play the banjo, and I play the piano. I went to Mali and got to hang out with the best guitar players in the world because that’s where guitar was invented. So John Coltrane inspired me by the way he went after things that were important to what he was doing. Trane; I listen to him every day.
If you could choose one quote or life mantra what would it be?
“Live and Let Live” – Tom Wolfe
“There are only two kinds of music. Good and Bad.” – Duke Ellington
~Interviewed by Shelley Nicole
The Tea for Creatives series celebrates the creative minds that Possibiliteas seeks to serve with its brews. We aim to bring the creative community insightful and eye-opening profiles of the best and brightest creative professionals across various industries. Join us on Facebook and Twitter for more conversations on creativity.
Tags: August Wilson, Bill Sims Jr, blues, Creativitea, creativity, guitar, Jitney, music, Possibiliteas, vocalist
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