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TRUMPETER...
Michael`s exposure to music started at a very young age. His father, Hadsy Simon, a guitarist and singer (who started it all), and his brothers Edward (pianist) and Marlon (drummer) kept the music environment in the house and supported him throughout his studies.
At the age of fourteen, he started taking trumpet as well as musical theory and solfege lessons at the "Sebastian Echeverria Lozano" music school in Valencia (Venezuela), and later started gaining on-stage experience playing with local (popular music) groups. Troughout this period, his brothers encouraged him to listen to Jazz, which drove him to a desire for new goals. While on vacation in Curacao visiting his father, he had the opportunity to attend his first Jazz Festival where he ended up immensely inspired after hearing the legendary cuban group Irakere.
In 1989, Michael left to Cuba for music studies at the school for professional specialization "Ignacio Cervantes". During these two years of school attendance and research in Cuba he took several private lessons with outstanding trumpeters such as: Juan Munguia (Irakere), Roberto Garcia (Afrocuba), El Greco (NG LA Banda), José Alberto Varona (Klimax), Alfredo Pichardo (Afrocuban All Stars) and followed an arranging class thaught by Armando Romeu.
As he developed more interest in jazz, he followed Jamey Aebersold`s "Summer Jazz Workshop" in 1992, this encouraged him to look for a school with a jazz program while based in Curacao, where he began working professionally as a trumpeter with local jazz and latin groups.
It was in 1993, that Michael auditioned and was admitted to study in the jazz department at the Rotterdams Conservatory, when he moved to The Netherlands. In 1998 he obtained his degree of D.M. (bachelor) for trumpet and consequently began another course on composing and arranging at the same school. Throughout this period, he had the opportunity to perform at the country`s most important theaters, concert halls and festivals. In the summer of 1997 he made his first appearance at the North Sea Jazz Festival as a member of the Fra Fra Big Band and the following year with Gerardo Rosales`s Latin Jazz Ensemble, he is a steady member of these groups since 1996 as well as of Fra Fra Sound.
So far, he has accumulated an impressive curriculum. His work experience includes performances with top Latin and Jazz artists such as Lester Bowie, Denise Jannah, Rotterdams Fabrikaat Big Band, Benjamin Herman, Bobby Watson, Paquito D`Rivera, Conexión Latina, Toumani Diabaté, Andy Gonzalez, Deborah Carter, Edward Simon, Lukas van Merwijk and the Cubop City Big Band, Randal Corsen, Marlon Simon, Javier Plaza, Giovanni Hidalgo, John Benítez, Eddie Martinez and recently with David Murray. Throughout his concert tours, he has performed in Ireland, Benelux, France, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Denmark, Austria, Sweden, Slovakia, Finland and also in countries outside Europe such as USA, Jamaica, Hungary, Surinam, Netherlands Antilles, Venezuela, Guatemala, South Africa, Tanzania and 5 countries in West Africa.
COMPOSER AND ARRANGER...
Now a days, Michael has been getting more and more into writing music, since he obtained his bachelour degree for composition and arranging at the Rotterdams Conservatory, he followed the Film Music Seminar of the 21st edition of the Netherlands Film Festival and was assigned to write a composition for Fra Fra Sound in 1998 and 2005, receiving a grant from the "Fonds voor de Scheppende Toonkunst", he wrote all the music for the music-theaterplay "Virus" and also contributed to the Rotterdam Symphonic Jazz Orchestra with his arrangement of Joe Malinga`s "Umdrah". He is active performing and writing as a steady member of Fra Fra Sound, Fra Fra Big Band, Conexión Latina, Gerardo Rosales y su Trabucombo and continues to explore new possibilities with his own septet "Michael Simon & Roots United" and the "Michael Simon Quartet", in which he performes original compositions.
Listen to a series of audio segments containing original compositions and arrangments by Michael Simon in the music and sounds section of this website.
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