Biography
2017 NAACP Image Award winner Edward Simon is a Venezuelan-American pianist and composer whose music explores the commonalities between Latin American traditions, jazz, and classical music. Simon has appeared multiple times on The New York Times Top Ten Jazz Records of the Year list, and his compositions span a wide range of ensembles — from intimate jazz trios and small combos to large jazz ensembles and string quartet. The recipient of over 20 commissions from SFJAZZ for the SFJAZZ Collective and a five-time awardee of Chamber Music America's New Jazz Works grant, Simon is among the most commissioned composers working at the intersection of jazz and contemporary chamber music.
An artist of deep social consciousness and 2014 Doris Duke Impact Award nominee, Simon brings the same compositional rigor and cultural rootedness to his large-scale works as to his chamber writing. His forthcoming multidisciplinary project When Dogs Howl: The Migrant Soundscapes of Venezuelan Refugees documents and memorializes the fate-defying journey of Venezuelan refugees to America through dance, storytelling, and original music steeped in Venezuelan styles and traditions — and primed for improvisation. The work receives its world premiere in March 2027 at SFJAZZ's Miner Auditorium.