The Simon Brothers

The Simon Brothers - percussionist Marlon, pianist Edward and trumpeter Michael - entered the world of music thanks to their singer-guitarist father, Hadsy Simon. When Edward was a 10-year-old piano prodigy and Marlon a 19-year-old percussionist, the two formed Nuestro Grupo and began playing Latin popular dance music in their hometown, Punta Cardón. Brother Michael eventually joined them onstage with his trumpet. However, after a few years performing together, the brothers went their separate ways: Marlon and Edward moved to the US while Michael moved to Cuba and then the Netherlands. As the new millennium dawned, the brothers reunited with their father. In August 2001, with assistance from the Curacao Jazz Foundation, they realized their father’s dream with a concert dubbed “Simon, Simon & Simon, The Reunion.” Staged at Villa Maria on the island of Curacao, Edward, Michael and Marlon performed works created while they consolidated their respective careers in diverse expressions of jazz music. The Simon Brothers performed together several times in 2010 at Festival de Jazz y Nuevas Propuestas in Caracas, Venezuela and at the Hotel Avila Beach in Curacao. That year, the brothers also performed at Centro Cultural La Estancia in Paraguaná, Venezuela—the city where all three were born. It was the first time in at least 30 years all three came home to play. Throughout the years, the Simons have supported one another's artistic growth by contributing musicianship and compositions to each other’s individual recordings. Their most recent collaboration can be heard on Michael's latest, New York Encounter. For their reunion concerts, Marlon, Edward and Michael select those compositions they consider the most appropriate for each performance. Thus each concert includes elements that represent the character of each Simon brother and the different streams of jazz they explore.

Orange City, FL