The trombone is a difficult instrument to make singular. Its history is long, its voice immediately recognizable, and the shadow of J.J. Johnson falls across every serious player who has picked it up in the last seventy years. Rick Simerly does not avoid that shadow — he has studied it, absorbed it, and arrived somewhere entirely his own.
David Baker, leader of the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra, has called Simerly "one of the most exciting and consistently creative trombonists in jazz today." Jamey Aebersold has described him as "an astounding player with fantastic range and a keen sense of developing a solo — his playing takes you on musical journeys, and each one is different and exciting." The late J.J. Johnson, upon hearing Simerly's solo debut, offered a response that says everything: "It is quite impressive. You should be proud."
Simerly has played in the bands of Tommy Dorsey, Woody Herman, Nelson Riddle, Les Elgart, Bob Crosby, Jimmy Dorsey, Buddy Morrow, and the last band of Charlie Spivak. He has performed alongside Billy Taylor, James Moody, Slide Hampton, Jon Faddis, Eric Alexander, and Bobby Watson, and has toured with Frank Sinatra Jr., Lou Rawls, Gladys Knight, the Temptations, the Four Tops, and the Commodores. His recordings on the Double-Time Jazz label feature some of the most celebrated names in contemporary jazz. He is a veteran faculty member of the Jamey Aebersold Summer Jazz Workshops, a clinician for Conn-Selmer, and an Associate Professor of Music at Milligan University in Tennessee.
What drives him is not legacy or accolade but something simpler and more demanding. "Jazz is a challenging genre that gives you the freedom to put your personal stamp on the music," Simerly has said. "Improvisation allows me to actually create the music and interpret it in my own personal way. It's challenging and dictates a necessity to continually practice and improve. In jazz, mastery of your instrument is only the starting point."