Piedmont Piano Company is pleased to present

Edward Simon, piano
and David Binney, alto sax

The Simon-Binney partnership is based on a 25-year affinity, their musical visions as simpatico as their personalities. "Binney and Simon have emerged... as leaders in an evolving musical context informed by broader cultural concerns, often complex harmonic and rhythmic foundations, and a fresh thematic approach that's eminently lyrical yet steadfastly avoids the obvious. Both are fine soloists, able to combine a sense of the cerebral with deeper emotional resonance." (All About Jazz) They will be joined by Logan Kane (bass) and Tim Angulo (drums).

$25 General Admission

Venezuelan-born pianist and composer Edward Simon is an artist of great singularity steeped in many musical traditions. He grew up in a musical family playing Latin American music and was classically trained in the US since age 12; both streams inform his primary métier, jazz improvisation. Simon has recorded 15 critically acclaimed albums as leader or co-leader, including two New York Times Top Ten jazz records of the year: Edward Simon (1995) and Simplicitas (2005). His recording Unicity was voted “Best CD of 2007” by Downbeat. His illustrious career includes collaborations such prominent jazz artists as Kevin Eubanks, Terence Blanchard, Bobby Watson, Herbie Mann, Bobby Hutcherson and Latin legends Manny Oquendo and Israel “Cachao” Lopez. He has appeared as guest artist on more than 50 recordings, including Paquito D’Rivera’s Grammy Award winning Funk Tango (Best Latin Jazz Album, 2007) and several other Grammy-nominated albums.

Simon is a 2014 Chamber Music America New Jazz Works grantee and a Doris Duke Impact Award nominee. He has received grants from Chamber Music America (2005, 2008), National Performance Network (2007), US Artists International (2006), commissions from Meet the Composer (1995) and SFJAZZ (2012, 2011, 2010), and fellowships from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts (2005), State of Florida (2007), New York Foundation for the Arts (2008) and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (2010). In 2010 he joined the SFJAZZ Collective, an all-star jazz ensemble comprising eight of the finest performer/composers at work in jazz today, dedicated to creating new work and highlighting the music of historically significant jazz composers of the modern era. The following year he became a McDowell Fellow and completed a five-week residency at the prestigious McDowell Colony. He is currently on faculty at the California Jazz Conservatory, San Francsico Conservatory of Music, and Artist in Residence at the Brubeck Institute.

Currently, Simon maintains three working bands, his all-star trio featuring John Patitucci and Brian Blade, Ensemble Venezuela, and Afinidad. His recent release, Venezuelan Suite, featuring his Ensemble Venezuela, has received remarkable critical acclaim and was selected among Best Latin Releases of 2014 by The New York City Jazz Record. His latest release, Latin American Songbook, has won an NAACP Image Awards for Outstanding Jazz Album. edwardsimon.com.

Piedmont Piano Company is pleased to present

Edward Simon, piano
with Marco Granados, flute

Two Venezuelan virtuosos will perform a blend of South American music including favorites by the iconic Venezuelan singer/songwriter Simón Díaz as well as Simon's own Venezuelan Suite from his acclaimed album of the same name. All About Jazz marveled: “Venezuelan Suite is pianist Edward Simon’s love letter to his homeland, but that’s not all it is; it’s also the perfect confluence of Venezuelan ideals, jazz language and chamber-esque sophistication. In short, it’s a masterpiece.”

$20 General Admission

Venezuelan-born pianist and composer Edward Simon is an artist of great singularity steeped in many musical traditions. He grew up in a musical family playing Latin American music and was classically trained in the US since age 12; both streams inform his primary métier, jazz improvisation. Simon has recorded 15 critically acclaimed albums as leader or co-leader, including two New York Times Top Ten jazz records of the year: Edward Simon (1995) and Simplicitas (2005). His recording Unicity was voted “Best CD of 2007” by Downbeat. His illustrious career includes collaborations such prominent jazz artists as Kevin Eubanks, Terence Blanchard, Bobby Watson, Herbie Mann, Bobby Hutcherson and Latin legends Manny Oquendo and Israel “Cachao” Lopez. He has appeared as guest artist on more than 50 recordings, including Paquito D’Rivera’s Grammy Award winning Funk Tango (Best Latin Jazz Album, 2007) and several other Grammy-nominated albums.

Simon is a 2014 Chamber Music America New Jazz Works grantee and a Doris Duke Impact Award nominee. He has received grants from Chamber Music America (2005, 2008), National Performance Network (2007), US Artists International (2006), commissions from Meet the Composer (1995) and SFJAZZ (2012, 2011, 2010), and fellowships from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts (2005), State of Florida (2007), New York Foundation for the Arts (2008) and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (2010). In 2010 he joined the SFJAZZ Collective, an all-star jazz ensemble comprising eight of the finest performer/composers at work in jazz today, dedicated to creating new work and highlighting the music of historically significant jazz composers of the modern era. The following year he became a McDowell Fellow and completed a five-week residency at the prestigious McDowell Colony. He is currently on faculty at the California Jazz Conservatory, San Francsico Conservatory of Music, and Artist in Residence at the Brubeck Institute.

Currently, Simon maintains three working bands, his all-star trio featuring John Patitucci and Brian Blade, Ensemble Venezuela, and Afinidad. His recent release, Venezuelan Suite, featuring his Ensemble Venezuela, has received remarkable critical acclaim and was selected among Best Latin Releases of 2014 by The New York City Jazz Record. His latest release, Latin American Songbook, has won an NAACP Image Awards for Outstanding Jazz Album. edwardsimon.com.

Piedmont Piano Company is pleased to present

The Dann Zinn 4
with Taylor Eigsti

The Dann Zinn 4 is a working band featuring Dann Zinn on saxophone, Taylor Eigsti on piano, Zach Ostroff on bass, and Mark Ferber on drums. This performance will feature Dann’s original music written specifically for this group, and they will be recording a CD in the days following this show. The music is a dynamic blend of Contemporary Jazz, World Music, and Americana, with memorable melodies and intense improvisations.

$20 General Admission

“Dann Zinn is a game changer, who is taking jazz in new directions.” As a world-class saxophonist/flutist, Zinn is renowned for being a passionate soloist and composer/arranger. Hailed over the years as “inventive,” “distinctive,” and for “creating a stunning and emotional listening experience,” Zinn has developed a unique style distinguishing him as a one of a kind artist with a tone unlike any other horn player on the jazz scene today.

Zinn’s resume includes working with Peter Erskine, Taylor Eigsti, Joe Henderson, Freddie Hubbard, Mary Wells, Martha and the Vandellas, and Barry Finnerty, among others. Zinn has been featured on numerous CDs, and has produced four of his own; Ten Songs, Wish, Grace’s Song, and the newest, Shangri La. DownBeat Magazine gave Shangri La a Four Star review, and listed it as one of the best albums of 2015. Zinn has toured around the world, and played on distinguished stages including a Top Ten, Must See at the 2015 Monterey Jazz Festival with Peter Erskine, the San Francisco Jazz Festival, and Yoshi’s Night Spot, where he has played to sold-out crowds.

As an educator, Zinn’s resume includes Director of Jazz Studies at the California State University East Bay, Director of Jazz Studies at Chabot College, Director of the San Francisco Jazz Festival High School All Star Combo, faculty of the University of California at Berkeley, The California Jazz Conservatory, and The Brubeck Institute. Zinn’s private studio is home to multiple winners of full scholarships to the nation’s top Jazz college programs and all star bands. Zinn and the Art of Saxophone is the newly published series of six technique books based on Zinn’s 30 years of teaching experience. dannzinn.com

"Eigsti exudes fearlessness and joy, secure in the belief that he can make music with anyone." –Variety Magazine

33-year old New York-based pianist and composer Taylor Eigsti started playing the piano when he was four years old. Growing up in the Bay Area, Eigsti was quickly labeled a prodigy, and has since released 7 albums as a leader, garnering multiple individual GRAMMY Award nominations for his work as a recording artist and composer, including Best Instrumental Composition, and Best Jazz Instrumental Solo. Recently, Eigsti also contributed a featured composition on the 2017 GRAMMY-winning soundtrack to the motion picture Miles Ahead, starring Don Cheadle.

Eigsti has performed, toured, or recorded with such luminaries as Dave Brubeck, Joshua Redman, Joshua Bell, Esperanza Spalding, Chris Botti, Sting, John Mayer, Terence Blanchard, James Moody, Chris Potter, Nicholas Payton, McCoy Tyner, Chick Corea, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Gretchen Parlato, Julian Lage, Hank Jones, and Frederica Von Stade, among many others over the years. Eigsti has travelled internationally quite extensively over the years both as a sideman and with his trio and quartet, performing at such venues as Carnegie Hall, Hollywood Bowl, Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Royal Festival Hall, Olympia Hall, Davies Symphony Hall, Salle Pleyel, and many top festivals throughout the world throughout six continents.

Eigsti has performed as a soloist with many premiere symphony orchestras, including the New York Pops, Chicago Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Naples Philharmonic, Colorado Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, and many others. Eigsti has also composed a large repertoire of symphonic music for multiple collaborations with the Peninsula Symphony, Oakland Symphony, Bear Valley Chamber Orchestra, amongst others. Eigsti has also been featured numerous times in various television specials, NPR appearances, commercials, and composed the theme music to the motion picture Detachment (2011) starring Oscarwinner Adrien Brody, collaborating on the score with the Newton Brothers. tayjazz.com

Zachary Ostroff is a 24-year-old bassist, film composer, multi-instrumentalist, singer, and environmental entrepreneur. In 2017, Ostroff has been leading development of the world’s first 3D-printed, compostable, recyclable surfboard, while composing and performing scores for forthcoming films like Taro Tamai. In 2016, he premiered "Vote for Home" the first web video series to feature well-known musical artists discussing the current impact of climate change on hometowns in the United States, while helping register viewers to vote in the upcoming 2016 US election. In 2014, Ostroff performed for President Obama and the UN in New York City during COP20 and made his debut performance as a leader at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C.. He was also featured in the HBO Series Masterclass performing with Joshua Bell in New York and London. He's performed at jazz festivals and concert venues internationally and currently resides in an ex-poetry commune boat in Sausalito, California. zacharyo.com

Drummer Mark Ferber can be heard on over 100 recordings. Ongoing projects includes the Gary Peacock Trio, Ralph Alessi’s ‘This Against That’, the Brad Shepik organ trio, and his twin brother, Alan Ferber’s big band and nonet. Past work includes tours and recordings with Lee Konitz, Jonathan Kreisberg, Jack Wilkins, Don Byron, Fred Hersch, Tony Malaby, Mark Helias, and John O'Gallagher, among others. Mark has taught extensively in the United States and Europe. He was a faculty member for the Maine Jazz Camp, the Tavira Jazz Workshop in Portugal, the School of Improvisational Music (SIM), and is currently teaching privately out of the City College of New York. He was born and raised in Moraga, CA and received a degree in Biogeography from UCLA. Mark is an endorsing artist for Istanbul Cymbals. He lives in Brooklyn, NY. markferber.bluemusicgroup.com

Piedmont Piano Company is pleased to present

Katy Stephan, Joel Chapman, and Tim Silva

Three songwriters with one piano, one guitar, and a myriad of original songs, venturing genre-blind over untamed terrain between pop, classical, musical theatre, and cabaret with wit, harmonies, and heart. Joel, Katy, and Tim will perform separately and together, along with special guests including Rebecca Seeman and her amazing wine glass organ. First chance to get Katy Stephan's new album, Our Trespasses, which comes with a treasure map in a bottle.

$18 - For tickets, visit Brown Paper Tickets.
$20 - cash at the door

Katy Stephan's music is both sweet and salty, delicate and powerful. Her voice has been featured in major motion picture soundtracks, TV movies and theme songs, and even in childrens toys. She has created original music for theatre productions (Porchlight Theatre, Word For Word, Upon These Boards, and Azeotrope Theatre), modern dance (Project Agora, Copious Dance, Theatre, Counterpointe, and Requisite Dance) and circus (Vau de Vire). Stephan has been a soloist with the Oakland East Bay Symphony for their concert versions of Candide, Follies and Leonard Bernstein's Mass, and appeared with the Pacific Mozart Ensemble as a soloist and chorus member on the Grammy- nominated recording of Mass with Kent Nagano and the Deutsche Symphonie. A collection of original songs that Katy recorded at home for National Solo Album Month was named one of the San Francisco Chronicle’s “Best Local Releases” of that year; and for three straight years she wrote, recorded and posted a new original song every week on her website. Her sacred solos are sold internationally, and she has been pianist in residence at San Francisco's Comstock Saloon for more than seven years. She offers beautiful sonic valentines handcrafted from oaths, prayers, curses, feathers and frills.

Joel Chapman is a San Francisco-based conductor, bass-baritone, and songwriter. Passionate for musical theater, Joel’s “I Want” song in life is to make art in his community that satisfies at least two out of three of the following criteria: funny • original • impactful. A sought after low bass, he sings professionally with Volti, an ensemble that performs and animates new works, and Endersnight, a choir specializing in Renaissance music. Joel’s biggest inspirations are Ben Folds, Stephen Sondheim, and Clickhole. He is a co-creator of Gravity, a new musical featured as a finalist in the 2017 Eugene O’Neill National Music Theater Conference and seen in the Bay Area at the TheatreWorks New Works Festival. Recent theatrical credits: Tinderella (music director/orchestrator, Custom Made Theatre Co & Faultline Theater), Voices of the Quilt (music director, Custom Made Theatre Co), Sweeney Todd (music director/Judge Turpin, SF Bay Area Theater Company), Macbeth (sound designer, Stanford Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics), The Last Five Years (music director, Stanford Asian American Theater Project), Sunday in the Park with George (music director, Stanford University). Joel is a Stanford graduate and holds an M.A. in Music, Science, & Technology and a B.A. in Music. joelchapmanmusic.com

Tim Silva, aka 'Timmy Bimmy', is a choir nerd on the edge. Never able to maintain focus or stay in one musical world long enough, Bimmy has collected many instruments and names of bands he used to be in. For the last several years, he has been living and working with songwriters, helping hone their songs, and writing his own. A classically trained and diverse performer, Tim draws influence from the grunge bands of the 90's, the folk bands of the 60's, and favors groovy, oscillating progressions as foundations for concise writing and clear singing.

Piedmont Piano Company is pleased to present

Alvon Johnson

Join us for a special evening of music with Alvon Johnson, "The Ambassador of the Blues." He has become a highly respected international Singer, Musician, and Entertainer. Whether he sings with big bands performing the great material of the American Song Book or the Low Down Blues, Alvon Johnson is an artist whose act should not be missed.

$25 General Admission

Alvon Johnson is one of the most versatile musicians, singers, and entertainers on the music scene today. He travels the world singing and swinging Jazz standards with Big Bands. He also gallops the globe performing the songs that he sang while working with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame group, The Coasters. When he travels to Russia he is referred to as the “King of the Blues” and the “Ambassador of the Blues.” His love and respect for the American art form is shared by large and enthusiastic audiences the world over.

• Recipient of the Music Icon Award from the Black MusicAssociation & Academy of America in 2015
• Recipient of the Best Male Blues Artist from the Black Music Association & Academy Of America in 2015
• Voted 2005 Blues Guitar Player of the Year
• Former vocalist with the Rock and Roll Hall of fame group “The Coasters”
• Regional winner of the Guitar Centers “King of the Blues” national contest in 2006 and 2007
• His CD “The Blues Grew up was nominated for Outstanding Blues Album of 2004 Voted as one of the top ten CD’s in Japan in 2005
• His incredible CD “Guitars and Cars”, was voted in the top ten CD’s of 2008 by the prestigious Blues magazine “Real Blues”
• Nominated for the Entertainer of the Year Award with the “International Music and Entertainment Association”

alvonjohnson.com