MP3 Mark London Sims - Limited Expression

...his bass playing is both a grounding and expanding force, Simsâ album is an R&B project, at root, but is freely colored and fortified by jazz, reggae rhythms, touches of hip hop, and other impulses.

9 MP3 Songs
URBAN/R&B: Soul, JAZZ: World Fusion



Details:
Bassist Mark London Simsâ new album, Limited Expression, closes with the original âMusic Should Change Instantaneously,â a title which hints at the underlying philosophy guiding his life as a musician. An intuitive player in jazz, R&B, reggae and beyond, Sims has forged a path through music including work with free jazz-meets-world music pioneer Don Cherry (innovative collaborator with Ornette Coleman, and father of Neneh Cherry), and with Ben Harper, Dave Wakeling, hip hop star Sonja Marie and reggae icon Joe Higgs. An appetite for change mixes with an abiding respect for the specific musical traditions he engages in.

Elements of change and versatility also extend to Simsâ tools of expression. Limited Expression finds Sims donning hats as bassist, vocalist, keyboardist, guitarist, rapper, and as a flexible conceptualist. Just as his bass playing is both a grounding and expanding force, Simsâ album is an R&B project, at root, but is freely colored and fortified by jazz, reggae rhythms, touches of hip hop, and other impulses.

Sims comes to his eclecticism naturally. In the â80s, after studying at Cal Arts with such teachers as Charlie Haden and James Newton, Sims quickly plied his skills as a bassist in a variety of settings. Early on, he pursued his ear for avant-garde ideas, as a founding member of the adventurous world-jazz band project Dark (featuring percussionist Mark Nauseef) and part of the Nels Cline Trio (guitarist Cline now plays with Wilco, in addition to his own chancier projects).

All told, over the past twenty years, Sims has appeared on more than twenty albums, including Don Cherryâs Multi-Kulti, Ben Harperâs Like a King, Ghetto Stout by the Untouchables, Beautiful Day by the Eels, and How Love Really Loves, by Sonja Marie. Along the way, he has also worked with Stevie Wonder, L. Shankar, the Watts Prophets, and the Mighty Sparrow.

With Limited Expression, though, Sims puts his musical gifts forward in a more personal way, distilling ideas and experiences from the past two decades in music. Although Sims played many of the tracks on his project, he has also enlisted good musical company here. Carla Drew lends her supple soul voice to âHe Just Said Yes,â âNeck and Neck,â and âTurn it Aroundâ (which she also wrote). Derrick Conyers vocalizes on âKickinâ Back and Hustlinâ,â âConcrete Hard--â a moody soul tune with sprinklings of reggae in the mixâand on the chant-like âMusic Should Change Instantaneously.â Conyers also adds flurries of trumpet as the song fades, after a disarming mid-song interlude of tabla, from percussionist Leonice Shinneman.

On the medley âDown Racism/Money First,â he shows his skills in using the studio as creative lab, layering tracks beneath his heated, socially-charged rap delivered coolly in his easy-does-it tones as he decries social and racial inequities in todayâs America. Righteous indignation gives way to sweet lyricism on the instrumental piece âRita,â with Sims laying down the reflective melody on bass.

Limited Expression is a personal statement and also a progress report on a diverse musical life very much in motion.


"Deep, yet honest.... good vocals... vocal performance is engaging and commanding." ----Taxi.com


Mark London Sims uses Lakland Basses and Seymour Duncan Pickups.