EDDIE PALMIERI RETURNS

Eddie Palmieri, in concert In Three Beats , with his Latin jazz group, La Perfecta y su Banda de Salsa Dura.
Known as one of the best pianists of the past 60 years, Eddie Palmieri is a salsa and Latin jazz bandleader, arranger and composer. His playing skillfully fuses the rhythm of his Puerto Rican heritage with the complexity of his jazz influences.

In 1975, Palmieri won the first Grammy for Best Latin Recording for The Sun of Latin Music (he has won ten Grammys in total to date), including two for his influential recording with Tito Puente, Obra Maestra/Masterpiece.

Palmieri's professional career as a pianist took off with several bands in the early 1950s. And in 1961, Palmieri formed his own band, La Perfecta, which featured an unconventional front line of trombones instead of the trumpets customary in Latin orchestras. This created an innovative sound that blended American jazz with Afro-Caribbean rhythms, surprising critics and fans alike. Palmieri disbanded La Perfecta in 1968 to pursue different musical projects, though he would return to the band's music in the 2000s.

In addition to the Grammys, Palmieri has received numerous honors: Eubie Blake Award (1991); Most Exciting Latin Act, presented by the BBC in London (2002); Chubb Fellowship from Yale University, usually reserved for international heads of state, but awarded to Palmieri in recognition of his work building communities through music (2002); Harlem Renaissance Award (2005); Jay McShann Lifetime Achievement Award (2008); induction into the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame (2008). One year later, the Library of Congress added Palmieri’s composition “Azucar Pa’ Ti” to the National Recording Registry, which at the time included only 300 compositions documenting the entire history of recorded music in the U.S. With his popular eight-and-a-half-minute “Azucar Pa’ Ti,” Palmieri changed the format of the recording industry, breaking the three-and-a-half-minute barrier imposed by the recording industry. Additionally, Palmieri was recognized as an American icon; the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C., recorded two of Palmieri’s performances for its archives in 1988.

In 2013, Eddie Palmieri was awarded the coveted Jazz Master Award from the National Endowment of the Arts (NEA). The NEA Jazz Master Award is the highest honor an American jazz artist can receive. That same year, Palmieri received a lifetime achievement award from the Latin Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.

Born in Spanish Harlem and raised in the Bronx, Palmieri, after a short break, returns to his beloved Bronx to delight us with a spectacular concert (El Regreso de la Legenda), where he will tour his three musical facets, Latin jazz, La Perfecta and his Banda de salsa dura and with a select number of guests such as: Alfredo De La Fe, Luisito Quintero, Nelson Gonzalez, and Herman Oliveras among others on Saturday, April 19, 2025 at the Lehman Center for the Performing Arts.