Bill Sims Jr. Composer Extraordinaire
Bill Sims Jr. with Ruben Santiago-Hudson
When the play, Lackawanna Blues, opened on March 12, 2019, at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, it was missing an integral part. Bill Sims Jr. passed away on February 2, 2019. Creator Ruben Santiago-Hudson dedicated his autobiographical play to the memory of Bill Sims Jr. with these words.
“For over 20 years and dozens of projects, Bill Sims Jr. and I have stood shoulder to shoulder. Whether in cafes, arenas, living rooms, or Broadway, Bill's music, spirit, intellect, and passion saturated everything he touched. His music has been the bedrock, the foundation, the warm blanket that engulfed everything we've done. Every note Bill played had to be the truth.
Everything he wrote was life itself . . .his life, his story, our lives, and history profoundly, dignified, and authentic..
Bill loved Lackawanna Blues as much and maybe even more than I did. I once said to him, “I don’t know if I could do Lackawanna Blues if you aren’t there.” And in his classic Bill Sims Jr. cool, he responded, “I’ll be there. You might not see me, but I’ll be there.”
Watch and listen closely—that soothing touch you feel, that warm embrace Bill and Nanny** spreading some love our way.
Watch and listen closely—that soothing touch you feel, that warm embrace Bill and Nanny** spreading some love our way.”
**Note: Lackawanna Blues celebrates Nanny, the strong, big-hearted woman who raised Santiago-Hudson.
Lackawanna Blues on Stage and Screen Lackawanna Blues first opened in April 2001 at the Joseph Papp Public Theater in New York City. Santiago-Hudson remembers, "We did it, Bill Sims and I. We sold out the Public Theater for ten weeks."
HBO released a film version of Lackawanna Blues in 2005. The cast included S. Epatha Merkerson as Nanny, Macy Gray, Louis Gossett Jr. Mos Def, and many others.
Ruben Santiago-Hudson and Bill Sims Jr. Photo: Benedict Evans
Credits and Honors Awarded to Bill Sims Jr.
The Drama Desk Awards honor outstanding achievements by professional theater artists and productions on Broadway and off-Broadway. On June 14, 2022, Bill Sims Jr. was awarded posthumously for Outstanding Music in a Play for Lackawanna Blues. The play had opened on Broadway at the Samuel M. Friedman Theater. in October 2021.
Bill Sims Jr. composed original music for two of August Wilson's plays, Jitney and Seven Guitars. He won the 2017 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music in a Play for his work on Jitney.
Stage Credits Lackawanna Blues, Gem of the Ocean, Seven Guitars, Jitney, The Piano Lesson, Two Trains Running, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Crowns, Trick the Devil, The First Breeze of Summer, Things of Dry Hours. Paradise Blue.
An American Love Story is a 10-part documentary that chronicles a year and a half in the lives of the Wilson-Sims family. The documentary was broadcast in September 1999.
Reviews of Works by Bill Sims Jr.
A New York Times theater reviewer noted: The rhythm of "Seven Guitars is translated here into a natural flow, underscored by new music written by Bill Sims Jr. that makes this production an improvement on the Broadway version, which is something to say!"
“Lackawanna Blues is the shared project of Bill Sims, Jr., musician and composer extraordinaire, and Ruben Santiago-Hudson, raconteur, writer, and talented musician in his own right. Initially performed in 2003 by Santiago-Hudson – the man with the stories, memories, and gently sobbing harmonica – and Sims – the tender throaty guitar backing up tales sad and funny. Sims recently died – but his melodies and throbbing guitar will live on.”"
- Splash Magazine, March 18, 2019
Q&A with Bill Sims Jr.
Here are Bill’s answers to questions from various interviews.
What was the first record you bought with your own money?
“Big Bill Broonzy — 1955 London Sessions. Schaffner Furniture store in Marion, Ohio.”
“My music is a documentation of my life, my parents’ life, and the history of Africans here in America. I feel a duty to keep that history alive and tell the stories that have been entrusted to me by my ancestors.”
"The Blues is not something you learn, I was born into the Blues."
Why did you decide to be part of the documentary An American Family?
"I wanted to do this film to show people that we're not a threat to their way of life; our way of life is the same, you know? We're only trying to master our world, just like they are."
"The Blues has maintained its following because everybody knows the truth when they hear it, and the Blues is the truth. There's no lying in it."
Who is one of your favorite creative figures and how did he or she inspire you?
"That's easy. John Coltrane. His dedication to his craft and art and how 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 into everything that I think is associated with the Blues. I have an organ trio, I play acoustic music, I have a harmonica player, I'm learning to play the banjo, and I play the piano. I went to Mali and hung out with the best guitar players in the world because that's where the 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
43302.org has published other articles about the life and music of Bill Sims Jr.
Check out Bill Sims' Heritage Blues Orchestra to Tour Europe, first published on April 20, 2015,
When we interviewed Bill in February and March 2015, he was in the midst of preparation for his Heritage Blues Orchestra's tour, which would include parts of the United States and Europe. It was a busy period for Bill but, he gave generously of his time.
Junior Mack, Chaney Sims, and Bill Sims Jr. of The Heritage Blues Orchestra
Siims' Heritage Blues Orchestra's album And Still I Rise, garnered critical acclaim and was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Blues Album of 2013. A review by American Roots UK noted that "this tremendous album just about covers the length and breadth of African American roots music."
To Bill, the title of the album fits. "It expresses so well the African American experience as found in writers such as Langston Hughes and Maya Angelou." The title was inspired by Angelou's poem "Still I Rise".
