Edward Simon Group

Edward Simon Group
Emeryville, CA
Grant amount: $14,900

About the Artists

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 fourand-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. The New York Times has praised Simon’s “light, warm touch” as a pianist, while Jazz Journal International singled out “his deep emotional statements” as a composer and improviser. Simon is a 2021 recipient of Chamber Music Americas New Jazz Works and South Arts Jazz Road Creative Residencies awards.

Edward Simon Trio drummer, Adam Cruz was born in New York City and has been a vital creative force on the international jazz scene, also as a composer and educator. He leads his own group, is an integral part of renowned pianist Danilo Perez’s trio, and regularly works with artists such as Tom Harold, The Mingus Big Band, Joey Calderazzo, Chris Potter, and Steve Wilson. Cruz currently teaches at City College of New York and the Berklee Global Jazz Institute.

Imbued with both groove and spirit from birth, bassist Reuben Rogers combined the calypso and reggae rhythms of his native Virgin Islands with the gospel sounds of the church and the freedom and improvisation of jazz to create the unique chemistry that would make him one of the most distinctive and in-demand bassists in modern jazz. Rogers has performed with Charles Lloyd, Wynton Marsalis, Joshua Redman, Tomasz Stanko, Roy Hargrove, Marcus Roberts, Nicholas Payton, Mulgrew Miller, Jackie McLean and Dianne Reeves, among many others.

Percussionist Luis Ernesto Quintero Vegas was born in Caracas, Venezuela. (He goes by Luis Quintero.) Quintero was a child music prodigy and hails from a lineage of distinguished musicians and singers. After moving to New York in 1992, Luis Quintero quickly integrated into the New York City Latin music and jazz scene. His reputation as one of the best percussionists garnered him opportunities to perform and record with legendary artists such as Chick Corea as well as serving as musical director for acts like La India. Quintero is not afraid to push the boundaries of his musical expression and style incorporating a variety of instruments such as timbales, congas, bongos, drums set, the West African djembe, dundun, and a wide variety of other percussion instruments. Quintero brings technical wizardry and musicality to every recording and performance.

Born in Mexico City and currently based in New York City, Magos Herrera is a dazzling jazz singer-songwriter, producer, and educator. Declared "one of the greatest contemporary interpreters of song” by The Latin Jazz Network, Herrera is regarded as one of the most active vocalists in the contemporary Latin American jazz scene. She is best known for her eloquent vocal improvisation and her singular bold style, which embraces elements of contemporary jazz with Ibero-American melodies and rhythms singing in Spanish, English, and Portuguese, in a style that elegantly blends and surpasses language boundaries.

Magos sings in English, Spanish, and Portuguese, and has collaborated with Javier Limón, saxophonist Tim Ries, Aaron Goldberg, Pedro Aznar, Edward Simon Trio, John Patitucci, Luis Perdomo, Adam Rogers, Tim Hagans, Alex Kautz, composer Paola Prestini, former Kronos Quartet cellist Jeff Zeigler, and many others. Herrera currently lives in New York City.