The Works of Edward Simon

Edward  Simon, a native of Venezuela, has made a name for himself over decades in America as a jazz improviser, composer-arranger and band leader, with his profile heightening in recent years as he has explored the commonalities jazz can have with the folkloric sounds of Latin America. JazzTimes  summed up his impact this way: “Simon is less talked about than many  other important jazz pianists from the Caribbean and South America, but  he may be the most complete creative artist among them.” Based in the  San Francisco Bay Area as a member of the all-star SFJAZZ Collective, he has been a Guggenheim Fellow along with being awarded multiple composition grants as part of the Chamber Music America’s New Jazz Works initiative. Simon, a Yamaha artist, has recorded 15 albums as a leader or co-leader; his latest is Sorrows and Triumphs, released via Sunnyside Records in April 2018. This follows Simon’s 2016 album Latin American Songbook, with the four-and-a-half-star DownBeat review praising its “grand and sophisticated” sound. Latin American Songbook also won Simon an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Jazz Album. The New York Times has praised Simon’s “light, warm touch” as a pianist, while Jazz Journal International singled out “his deep emotional statements” as a composer and improviser.

   Simon received fellowships from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts (2005), State of Florida (2007) and New York Foundation for the  Arts (2008). He has served on the faculties of the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music, City College of New York and University of the  Arts. He has taught master classes and clinics at conservatories and universities around the world, including Western Michigan University where he served as Visiting Jazz Artist. He is currently on faculty at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music,  the California Jazz Conservatory and is a Resident Artist at the Brubeck  Institute. Simon was honored in 1999 and in 2004 for his teaching work with a Certificate of Appreciation for Outstanding Service to Jazz  Education from the International Association for Jazz Education. In 2010, he was named a Guggenheim Fellow by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. He became a McDowell Fellow the next year, with a residency at the prestigious McDowell Colony.  Simon serves on the board of Creative Advisors for the San Francisco  Contemporary Music Players.