Jazz from Venezuela has surfaced notably over the last year, particularly with the release in the summer of Leo Blanco’s latest album Pianoforte with the music and culture of the Andean highlands of Venezuela never far from the pianist’s artistic radar.

A fellow Venezuelan, the Punta Cardón-born pianist Edward Simon continues the story with his new Sunnyside album Venezuelan Suite, set for a release in late-January, shaped around a four-part suite with each movement based on a rhythm or song and titled after an associated city. 

The new album finds Simon with a high powered ensemble that includes harpist Edmar Castañeda and the saxophonist Mark Turner, best known for his work with Fly, plus Simon's longstanding drummer Adam Cruz.

As for the musical content there’s joropo, meringue, Venezuelan waltz, and gaita rhythms included in the compositional spread, written by the Chucho Valdés and Jerry Gonzalez-inspired player and his ensemble. Simon says of Venezuela: “The diversity of place and people creates diversity in the music, with even the joropo taking different forms in different parts of the country. Along with all the rhythmic subtleties of Venezuelan music – and the percussive sounds of an instrument like the cuatro – the music can also be pensive and lyrical, as with the Venezuelan waltz.”

Simon is something of a veteran with a dozen records out before this one hits, and since moving to the States in the early-1980s he’s worked closely with such advanced players as alto saxophonist David Binney as well as leading a trio where he is joined by Wayne Shorter quartet members John Patitucci and Brian Blade. Stephen Graham
Edward Simon pictured