Tonight at the Jamboree, Venezuelan pianist Antonio Mazzei presents his new quintet featuring Eva Fernández, David Xirgu, Juan Berbín and Juan Pablo Balcázar. The session’s repertoire is partly inspired by the music of Edward Simon, a Venezuelan pianist who, like Mazzei, has worked with Paquito D’Rivera. The award-winning and critically acclaimed Mazzei, who is also a composer and producer, lived in New York for ten years. In the Big Apple he enjoyed a scholarship to train at the prestigious New School and was a student of Fred Hersch and Kevin Hays. Mazzei has worked with Paquito D’Rivera, Marta Gómez, Rubén Blades, Nella, Luz Pinos and Juan Pablo Balcázar, among others. He has also received praise from Luis Perdomo, Ed Simon and producer Jordi Pujol Baulenas (Fresh Sound). He has been a teacher in New York and is currently a teacher in Barcelona, at the Taller de Músics.