Edward Perez

Edward Perez is a bassist, composer, and arranger based in Queens, New York, known for moving fluidly between straight-ahead jazz and the Latin American traditions of Peru, Colombia, and Brazil. He studied at Harvard University, earning a degree in mathematics while playing the Boston jazz clubs, and later spent two years in Lima performing with leading Afro-Peruvian artists including Eva Ayllon and Juan Medrano Cotito. He co-founded the Terraza Big Band with saxophonist Michael Thomas, whose album One Day Wonder earned a Grammy nomination for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album, and he won a Grammy for his work on Jeff Scott's oratorio Passion for Bach and Coltrane. He also leads Festejation, his own project rooted in Afro-Peruvian music. Since settling in New York in 2005 he has toured more than twenty countries as a sideman for bandleaders such as Paquito D'Rivera and Ralph Peterson Jr., and his compositions have been performed by the Silkroad Ensemble and Yo-Yo Ma.