A day or so ago, in a routine correspondence, I wished someone a Happy New Year. Without snark, they responded with the same — but put the phrase in scare quotes, as if reconsidering a familiar object that had warped into an odd shape. That’s where we stand thus far in 2026, for reasons you surely don’t need me to enumerate.
One in particular, though, brings this heartfelt dispatch. As you know, the new year effectively began with an illegal U.S. military strike in Caracas that left many casualties — more than a hundred dead, according to Venezuelan officials, and at least as many wounded. The nation’s authoritarian president, Nicolás Maduro, was abducted along with his wife, and he now awaits trial in a Brooklyn jail.
Among Venezuelans abroad, this is a moment of complicated feelings. (To put it another way, as this PBS headline did today: many are “torn between joy and worry.”) In the wake of the American attack, I wanted to connect with someone who has a true and nuanced perspective on Venezuelan culture. That led me to Edward Simon, a brilliant pianist and composer who has been probably the most accomplished Venezuelan jazz artist working in North America over the last 30 years.
Simon, whom I last saw with the SFJAZZ Collective at last summer’s San Francisco Jazz Festival — coincidentally, the weekend of the first No Kings Day protest — has a forthcoming album titled Venezuela: The Latin American Songbook Vol. 2. Releasing through the ArtistShare platform on Feb. 27, it’s an inspired program of mostly folk music by Venezuelan composers1, as played by his stellar trio with Reuben Rogers on bass and Adam Cruz on drums. One track also features Simon’s fellow Venezuelan and Bay Area resident Jackeline Rago, on cuatro and maracas.
We connected last week, Simon from his home studio in the Bay Area, and me from the home office outside Philly. This was an engaging, inspiring conversation — about Simon’s relationship with his homeland, his efforts as a musical ambassador, and some of the specific choices he made as a curator and arranger on this album. (We also talked geopolitics, but only briefly, at the top. I think neither of us would claim real authority in that area.) Listening back, I decided to share the whole thing. I hope you enjoy this interview, and that it yields some discovery, or at least a reframing.
Bonus Tracks
As this post goes out, so does The 20th Annual Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll, now organized by Tom Hull for Arts Fuse. I haven’t perused the results or accompanying essays yet, but I did cast my ballot. Bookmarking for later.
Speaking of Francis Davis: late last week, his partner Terry Gross remembered him in conversation with Stephen Colbert. The clip is well worth your time. If you didn’t see it the first time, I also memorialized Francis here.
I mentioned the San Francisco Jazz Festival (and No Kings Day) above, and while I’ve recently re-shared this review, I’ll give it another boost. Most of the archival content at The Gig lives behind a paywall, but this one is still free to all.
That’s it for today. Thanks as always for your eyes and ears, and do take care.
There’s one asterisk on this statement, which I’ll let Simon explain in the interview.
