STREAMING LIVE from Piedmont Piano Company
The Pit Orchestra
Mostly Monk / Played Distantly
This version of The Pit Orchestra is a trio with Edward Simon (piano), Erik Jekabson (trumpet), and Peter Barshay (bass). They will be playing the music of Thelonious Monk, while exploring the music of other composers.
Watch the LIVE STREAM on youtube or facebook
Donations/tips accepted via venmo.com/Erik-Jekabson or paypal.me/erikjekabson
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 15 albums as a leader or co-leader; his latest is Sorrows and Triumphs, released via Sunnyside Records in April 2018. This follows Simon’s 2016 album Latin American Songbook, with the four-and-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. edwardsimon.com
Erik Jekabson is a freelance trumpet player, composer, arranger and educator who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is equally busy playing and composing for different bands, leading his own groups, (the Erik Jekabson Sextet, the String-tet and the Electric Squeezebox Orchestra) teaching a wide variety of students and running the Young Musicians Program at the California Jazz Conservatory.
Erik has eight CDs out under his own name: his most recent album is “One Note at a Time” (2020) on the Wide Hive label. He’s spent time on the road with Illinois Jacquet, John Mayer, Galactic, and the Howard Fishman Quartet, and has performed at such notable venues as the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Algonquin Room, the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Madison Square Garden, the Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Late Night with David Letterman.
As an arranger and composer, he’s arranged for both vocalists and instrumental ensembles. He currently leads his own ensembles in the Bay Area, and has brought them to many festivals and venues.
Erik holds a Bachelor’s Degree from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and a Master’s Degree from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He’s a regular instructor at Jazzcamp West, the Stanford Jazz Workshop, the Lafayette Summer Jazz Workshop and the Brubeck Institute, and has written two books of jazz duets for trumpet. erikjekabson.com
Peter Barshay is a veteran bassist who has established a strong reputation over the years from his sideman work on both the New York City and San Francisco Bay Area jazz scenes. He has performed with such jazz luminaries as Kenny Barron, Freddie Hubbard, Sonny Stitt, Kenny Werner, Shirley Horn, Woody Shaw, Pharoah Sanders, Blue Mitchell, Tony Williams, Joe Henderson, Joe Lovano, Johnny Griffin and Bobby McFerrin.
Barshay’s numerous appearances at clubs and jazz festivals have taken him around the world, helping to establish his reputation as a solid, reliable bassist. Having soaked up a lifetime of sounds on both coasts -- everything from salsa and straight ahead to funk-fusion, avant garde and music derived from the Afro-Cuban and Brazilian traditions -- he brings a wealth of experience to the musical table. oneforallarts.org