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.”

Born in Punta Cardón, Venezuela, and based in the San Francisco Bay Area, Simon was named a Guggenheim Fellow in 2010 and has been a core member of the SFJAZZ Collective since 2009. He has appeared as a guest on more than fifty recordings, among them Paquito D’Rivera’s Grammy-winning Funk Tango, and his own Latin American Songbook won the NAACP Image Award.

• Guggenheim Fellow, 2010
• SFJAZZ Collective core member since 2009
• NAACP Image Award for Latin American Songbook
• More than fifty recordings as a guest artist