THE SHOWROOM SESSIONS: LIVE from Piedmont Piano Company
Photo by Rick Swig
Edward Simon
Solo Live CD Release
Edward Simon celebrates the release of his new album Solo Live. Recorded at the Piedmont Piano Company stage on his 50th birthday, its a ravishing portrait of one of jazz’s most eloquent improviser investigating a setting that’s become one of his primary outlets during the pandemic.
"One of pianist Edward Simon’s strengths is his ability to be simultaneously romantic and clear-headed, precise and suggestive.” -Michael Ullman
ATTEND IN PERSON $25
We are offering a limited number of tickets to attend this performance in person. Advance purchase is required. Ticket holders must be fully vaccinated to attend, and will be asked to show proof of vaccination at the door.
EDWARD SIMON piano
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 16 albums as a leader or co-leader; his latest is Solo Live, released via Ridgeway Records in October 2021. This follows Simon’s 2020 album 25 Years and his 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. edwardsimon.com