About

Edmar Noé Colón Gierbolini

Saxophonist, Pianist, Composer, Arranger, Educator

Puerto Rican-born Edmar Colón was awarded the prestigious Presidential Scholarship to attend Berklee College of Music with a dual major in Performance and Classical Composition, as well as a Masters's degree in Global Studies at the prestigious Global Jazz Institute.

Colón has performed throughout the world, including at the Detroit Jazz Festival, Puerto Rico Heineken Jazz Festival, Toronto Jazz Festival, Panama Jazz Festival, Montreal Jazz Festival, and Monterey Jazz Festival, among others. Recently, he performed at the Kennedy Center for the Mary Lou Williams Jazz Festival, as well as the Abbey Lincoln tribute tour with GRAMMY-award winners Terri Lyne Carrington, Esperanza Spalding, Dianne Reeves, and Dee Dee Bridgewater.  Colón has performed with artists such as Bob “Rakalam” Moses, Joe Lovano, John Patitucci, Danilo Pérez, Danny Rivera, Hal Crook, Kenny Werner, Lionel Louke, John Michel Pilc, Patti Austin, Ledisi, Judith Hill, David Sanchez, Arturo Sandoval, George Garzone, Luis Enrique and Ivan Lins, among other notable artists. 

In 2016, Colón was awarded the Latino 30 Under 30 Award New England from the El Mundo newspaper.  He was also awarded first prize at the "Keep An Eye" International Jazz Awards in Amsterdam as a part of the Berklee Global Jazz Institute. In 2017, he was honored in the annual Patron Saint festivities of his hometown of Coamo, Puerto Rico.  

As a composer, arranger, and orchestrator, the last few years have been very busy for Colón.  His work has included being the copyist for Wayne Shorter’s new opera, Iphigenia; being commissioned to write an orchestral piece for the Detroit Jazz Festival Symphony Orchestra honoring pianist Geri Allen; writing orchestrations for the title track of Esperanza Spalding’s Grammy Award-winning album, 12 Little Spells; copying/arranging for the Kennedy Center Honors Award ceremony honoring Wayne Shorter, and arranging/orchestrating for Terri Lyne Carrington’s acclaimed GRAMMY-nominated album Waiting Game.  In October of 2019, Edmar arranged and orchestrated a commission consisting of 16 orchestral pieces for the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center celebrating the centennial of Nat King Cole on a show entitled Nat King Cole at 100. Currently, Colón is working on original material for his debut album. Most recently, Edmar is working on a commission for the world-renowned Boston POPS. 

 

Contact
edmarcolon1@gmail.com

 

 

Tiandra Ray / Hannah Wood