"As I mature, I find myself developing an appreciation of things for which I had none before, such as poetry and art. I now see beauty were I couldn't find it, though sometimes I'm looking in the same old places. This is a time were I'm beginning to look deeper into life and to experience a blossoming of seeds that were planted by many others Poesia is a sound-picture of this special time in my life - as all moments are. The friendship between the members of this trio has blossomed into something beyond our individual selves, even beyond the music itself, it has blossomed into poetry... For this I'm grateful."
Edward Simon
Mr. Simon's touch, light and warm, allows for his music to drift calmly, taking its time to get to where it has to go.
The New York Times
He doesn't go in for dazzle and fleet-fingered runs but contents himself with digging in and mining the music for drama and invention. He often turns these rural sounds into deep emotional statements.
Jazz Journal International
Simon is an important presence on the jazz and world music scene.
Los Angeles Times
While he may be considered as part of a new generation of "multilingual" musicians who have grown up studying classical, jazz and Latin-American music, Edward Simon is inventing a language that transcends any rigid genre. He was born in the coastal town of Cardón, Venezuela where he grew up in a musical family surrounded by the sounds and rhythms of Latin and Caribbean music. After graduating from the Philadelphia Performing Arts School, at fifteen, Edward received a music scholarship from the University of the Arts where he undertook his studies in classical music under the tutelage of concert pianist Susan Starr. Later he transferred to the Manhattan School of Music where he studied jazz piano with Harold Danko. Upon arriving on the New York jazz scene in 1988, his reputation as a pensive, rhythmically astute, versatile player caught the ear of noted musicians Greg Osby, Jerry Gonzalez, Bobby Hutcherson, Herbie Mann, Kevin Eubanks and Paquito D’Rivera all of who would later employ him. The diversity of his performance experience enriched his writing while giving him greater scope. Simon quickly discovered that if he wanted to use jazz as a medium of expression he needed to immerse himself in this tradition. Membership in Bobby Watson’s influential group Horizon (1989-94) and the Terence Blanchard Group (1994-2002) were instrumental to this end during his formative years. In 1993, Simon made his first (Beauty Within-Audioquest) of nine critically acclaimed recordings as a leader. The following year, he became a finalist in the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Piano Competition. Since then, he has kept busy writing for the various ensembles he has formed: Edward Simon Trio, Afinidad and Ensemble Venezuela, and documenting his unique voice as both pianist and composer. In 2004, Simon received a Chamber Music America: ”New Works: Creation and Presentation” grant to compose the Venezuelan Suite. Edward Simon is a 2008 fellow in Music Composition from the New York Foundation for the Arts.
Edward Simon Trio - Poesia
