Sid Simmons

James "Sid" Simmons (* 27. November 1946 in Philadelphia , † 5. November 2010 ) was an American jazz pianist and composer , who through his work with Grover Washington, Jr. was known.

Live and act

Simmons was a permanent member of Philadelphia's jazz scene for 40 years and performed regularly in well-known venues in the city such as TnT Monroe's, Ortlieb's, Zanzibar Blue and Chris's Café . In the early 1970s he played with Byard Lancaster ( Live at Macalesta College , 1971) and in the formation The Visitors , which was directed by the brothers Earl and Carl Grubbs ; after that he was a member of the band Locksmith , in which musicians from Philadelphia such as Tyrone Brown , John Blake, Leonard "Doc" Gibbs and Millard "Pete" Vinson played and accompanied Grover Washington, Jr. at live concerts and recordings ( Live at the Bijou ). Simmons occasionally composed for Washington, such as "Maracas Beach" in 1978. The Visitors also played some of their own records, which, however, received little attention.

He also performed with Bootsie Barnes , for whom he was active as musical director. In the 1980s Simmons formed the house band of the club TnT Monroes with musicians like Charles Fambrough , where he had the opportunity to play with musicians like Greg Osby , Gary Thomas , Wallace Roney , Donald Harrison or Terence Blanchard . Later he was the resident pianist at Ortlieb's JazzHaus . Simmons also worked with Valery Ponomarev ( A Star For You , 1997), Joshua Breakstone ( This Just in ... , 1999), John Swana ( Philly Gumbo , 2000). and Mike Boone ( Better Late Than Never ). In the course of his career he was mostly active as an accompanist or in jazz shows in his hometown; Occasionally he also recorded under his own name, most recently with the album Keep the Faith with Mike Boone and Byron Landham , which was released in 2009.

Web links

• Obituary / portrait in JazzTimes
• Obituary at philly.com