Bask in the musical glow of Latin jazz genius Eddie Palmieri

'Sun Power'

Written by: Karen Lindell

“No Results Found.”

That’s the three-word explanation you get when searching the Grammy Awards’ online database for winners in the Latin category from 1958 (when the Grammys began) through 1974.

Results Have Been Found since then.

In 1975, the first-ever Grammy for best Latin recording was awarded to Eddie Palmieri for his “Sun of Latin Music” album.

The pianist and bandleader doesn’t see himself as the only winner that year, however.

“That first Grammy represented every single Latin artist and genre in the world,” said Palmieri, known for his salsa, Latin jazz and Afro-Caribbean music. “I dedicated it to Tito Rodriguez, who died in ’73 and never had an opportunity for a nomination.”

Palmieri wasn’t done with Grammy milestones. In 1995, he helped persuade the Recording Academy to add a Latin jazz album category (until then, Latin jazz artists like himself were in the same category as giants of the genre like Herbie Hancock), and has won eight Grammy Awards, most recently in 2006 for best Latin jazz album with trumpeter Brian Lynch for “Simpático.” He’s also won one Latin Grammy Award.

The pioneering Palmieri, who has been a bandleader for more than 50 of his 73 years and started playing piano as a little boy, will perform with his seven-piece jazz band as the headliner for the Ventura Music Festival’s first “Concierto Mar y Sol” Latin Music Festival on Sunday at Oxnard College.

Also performing are percussionist Munyungo Jackson of Los Angeles, a multicultural, multi-instrumental musician who has collaborated with Miles Davis, Stevie Wonder, Herbie Hancock, Sting, the Supremes and many others; and the New York-based Brazilian quartet Forró in the Dark. “Forró” refers to a style of Brazilian music derived from an African word for party, so expect dancing in the daylight to ensue when the Dark play on Sunday afternoon.

Palmieri, who as the “Sun of Latin Music” has the energy of a ball of fire along with a super-sunny disposition, has been known to get feet moving, too.

In Oxnard he’ll perform with his Afro-Caribbean jazz septet, featuring trumpet, alto sax, timbales, congas, bongo, bass and Palmieri on piano.

“There’s no vocalist, but it’s very danceable,” said Palmieri, who also leads a full Latin orchestra.

The musician, during a phone interview from his home in Manhattan, said he had just returned from Puerto Rico, where he played for an AARP group.

“You should have seen them dancing,” he said. “There was no arthritis at that moment. You could see how medicinal music is.” Music — or more specifically, the piano — long ago was medicine for Palmieri as well.

Growing up in the Bronx to parents who migrated from Puerto Rico, Palmieri was inspired by his older brother, Charlie, who became a well-known Latin salsa pianist.

At first, Palmieri said, “I would sing, and he would accompany me. I sang until I got ill one time, and it affected my voice; I had some kind of fever. Then I was on drums and piano all the time.”

Palmieri went on to play in numerous Latin dance bands, making his professional orchestral debut in 1955.

He got kicked out for “hitting the piano too hard,” he said, but his ouster led to a stint in a band led by one of the two legendary Titos: Tito Rodriguez.

In 1961 Palmieri created his own orchestra, La Perfecta, introducing an innovative instrumentation of two or three trombones (instead of trumpets, like other Latin bands), along with flute, percussion, bass and vocals. Because of the trombone contingent, La Perfecta became known as “the band with the crazy roaring elephants.”

La Perfecta disbanded in 1968, but Palmieri continued to evolve as he focused on composing and arranging, fusing African sounds with Latin, then adding salsa, funk and soul. He has been called the “Latin Thelonious Monk” for his innovative compositions.

Of all his awards and honors, Palmieri is most proud of winning the first Latin Grammy, he said. Also, this year he was “humbled” that the Library of Congress included his 1965 album “Azucar Pa’ Ti” (Sugar for You), in its annual list of 25 “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant” recordings added to the National Recording Registry.

And in June he was the guest commencement speaker at his old public middle school in the Bronx.

Palmieri still performs around the world; so far in 2010 his tour schedule has included stops in England, France, Denmark, Italy, Mexico and the U.S. And “by the holidays,” Palmieri said, he plans to release a DVD “celebrating 50 years of me on the bandstand. It’s a great Christmas gift. Santa Claus will be doing salsa; you’ll see Santa with a pair of maracas.”

* Photo Courtesy of Peter Maiden
This holiday season, Eddie Palmieri plans to release a DVD "celebrating 50 years of me on the bandstand." It'll make a "great Christmas gift," he promises.

Source: Ventura County Star

Music by Eddie Palmieri

Set as favorite

Bookmark

Email this

Comments (1) Add Comment

Subscribe to this comment's feed

...
written by LORAINEHODGES, August 02, 2011

If you want to buy a car, you will have to receive the personal loans. Moreover, my sister usually uses a secured loan, which is the most rapid.

Write comment