We present to you our first collaboration with our friend and amazing lyric baritone ROBERT SIMS, who we began working with in early 2008. Collaborating with a vocalist is something we hadn’t really considered much until we heard Robert’s incredibly moving voice and his inventive take on early African American spirituals. We were eager to see what would result. Brian went to work on arrangements that could work for both the quartet and Robert, and together, they came up with a collection of songs that blew us away.

Among them is Leonard Bernstein’s “Simple Song,” a piece commisioned in honor of JFK, a Delta blues-style rendition of the traditional spiritual “Two Wings,” and a haunting and beautiful arrangement of Bob Dylan’s legendary “Blowin’ in the Wind.” 

The GGQ/SIMS ensemble had our debut performance at Martha’s Vineyard in July, 2008 and it was clear the audience was as moved by the songs as we were. On the spot we were invited to return to play the series at Martha’s Vineyard the following year (though sadly that series came to an untimely end before that was realized). We have a number of shows scheduled with Robert in 2010 (we’ll be posting these dates soon on our concert page).

Special thanks to Marc Gilley for bringing his excellent engineering skills to the table. Be sure to check out his work with great Athens locals THE HEAP.

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