Edward Simon was in his mid-teens when he left his home in Punta Cardón, Venezuela, for good and settled in the United States, driven by his desire to learn about jazz at the source.
His quest has taken him to breathtaking creative heights with achievements visible both at home, where the Emeryville pianist and composer is the longest serving member of the SFJAZZ Collective, and abroad, via regular tours throughout Europe. No matter where his musical travels have taken him, Simon has kept his homeland in sight.
Over the coming months he plays a series of gigs around the region, starting with the world premiere of “Latin Heart” Saturday at the Presidio Theatre and Sunday at Montalvo Arts Center (where he composed some of the music on a 2024 residency).
Commissioned by Chamber Music America’s New Jazz Works program, the music features Simon’s trio with special guest Chris Potter on tenor saxophone and bass clarinet, and the Del Sol Quartet, the Bay Area’s go-to string ensemble for new music exploration.
As a newcomer to composing and arranging for strings, Simon benefitted greatly by working with a group readily available for consultation and collaboration.
“They’ve been really generous with their time,” Simon said on a recent phone call from the Dutch Caribbean island Curaçao, where he was on vacation with his family. “I’m still learning about strings, so it was great to have someone nearby who I can get together with and ask questions.”
His trio with bassist Reuben Rogers, who plays the SFJAZZ Center Feb. 20-22 as a longtime member of vocalist Dianne Reeve’s band, and drummer Adam Cruz, provides the rhythmic flexibility for a program that ranges across numerous Latin American idioms, while integrating the strings into the flow.
“My overall approach is to write for the ensemble as an ensemble with moments featuring Chris Potter and myself,” he said. “But there are sections where I want the string players to improvise as well, not in the jazz language, but in an experimental context.”
In many ways “Latin Heart” taps into Simon’s deepest musical memories. Growing up in a highly musical family, he was often enlisted to accompany his father, an amateur vocalist and guitar player who loved performing boleros. (This interview took place before the U.S. raid in Venezuela Jan. 3.)
“I didn’t care for the genre very much, all these love songs I didn’t relate to as an eight or nine-year-old,” he recalled. “I was more into the dance genres, salsa, merengue, and cumbia. But he’d call me in and I’d have to learn all these boleros.”
He’s come to appreciate the tradition, and composed a bolero as part of the commission. The program also features his expanded arrangements of two pieces composed for the SFJAZZ Collective as part of a 2024 collaboration with the de Young Museum, inspired by a triptych of environmental-minded paintings by Rupy C. Tut.
Simon’s trio returns to the Bay Area for concerts at the Palo Alto Art Center Feb. 28 and Bach Dancing & Dynamite Society in Half Moon Bay March 1, focusing on music from his new album “Venezuela: Latin American Songbook Vol. 2.” The first volume cast a wide net, encompassing iconic composers from Brazil (Jobim), Chile (Violeta Parra), and Argentina (Piazzolla), with Venezuela conspicuously not represented.
The second volume showcases instrumental arrangements of popular songs by Venezuelan composers, a rich vein of material that’s often overlooked. The album is built on his deep relationship with Cruz, a regular collaborator since Simon released his second album in 1995.
“We were in Paquito D’Rivera’s quintet for a while in the early 1990s, and Adam has grown into one of the great drummers of his generation,” Simon said. “He’s one of the few drummers who really understands both the Latin and jazz languages at a very profound level. He interprets my music so well.”
While Simon has also known Rogers for decades, the bassist was usually unavailable when the pianist called him for gigs. They reconnected a few years ago when Simon worked with Dianne Reeves. Born and raised on St. Thomas, “he can really bring the Caribbean feeling,” Simon said. “Because he comes from the islands, like me he grew up listening to music from all over this region.”
Drawing inspiration from such a talent-laden crew, Simon sees the “Latin Heart” project as a work in progress. While he’s premiering the music this weekend, “there will be other pieces I’ll be writing for this format,” he said, specifically based on Venezuelan tone poems known as tonadas. “They’re very simple pieces, but really beautiful. As I spend more time with this work, other pieces will evolve.”
Contact Andrew Gilbert at jazzscribe@aol.com.
EDWARD SIMON TRIO
With Chris Potter and Del Sol Quartet
When & where: 7:30 p.m. Jan. 10 at Presidio Theatre, San Francisco; $49-$82; www.presidiotheatre.org; 7 p.m. Sunday at Montalvo Art Center in Saratoga; $60-$65; montalvoarts.org.
