Eddie Palmieri

Would love to but don't think I can. Never seen Alfredo de la Fe in person.

A local promoter brought de La Fe down to the DC area once and booked him in a tiny narrow little upscale lounge. Plus the promoter showed Fania era footage on a small screen beforehand. It was a great show.

Here's part of my 2008 review:

De La Fe waited until the third song, "La Negra Tomasa," to join the 10-piece combo. Juste Lounge does not have a stage, so the group positioned itself along a wall right in front of the salsa-dancing couples. Using his trademark electric violin that has six strings on a skeletal plastic frame, the dreadlocked De La Fe quickly made his presence felt, heading out among the dancers and passionately slashing at the strings with his bow. Keeping the interests of the rug-cutters in mind, De La Fe did not solo too long and was accompanied by the band's insistent clave beat via the timbales, congas, keyboard and bass. Although De La Fe has, rock-style, used a wah-wah petal, this evening he kept his technique within the bounds of the Afro-Caribbean tradition.

That is awesome, thanks for posting.

Ben ratliff liked the show where Palmieri and an expanded group re-did his 1971 Harlem River Drive album, plus some other songs

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/23/arts/music/review-eddie-palmieri-reprises-a-tantalizing-harlem-river-drive.html?mabReward=CTM&moduleDetail=recommendations-0&action=click&contentCollection=Europe®ion=Footer&module=WhatsNext&version=WhatsNext&contentID=WhatsNext&src=recg&pgtype=article

On the record, he used a mixture of his own musicians with others who were working with Aretha Franklin. One of his own was the timbalero Nicky Marrero; one of Ms. Franklin’s was the drummer Bernard Purdie. Luckily, both were present for Saturday’s show, and important parts of it

Lucumi, Macumba, Voodoo is available on Spotify now. It's flawed (in crazy ways) but has some great material on it:

https://play.spotify.com/album/6rkKQA8OiqgdIiT0DrUWWE?play=true&utm_source=open.spotify.com&utm_medium=open

Not 100% sure that link will work.

It's a very well-recorded album compared to some of EP's albums from roughly the same time period, notably Unfinished Masterpiece, which was a bit of an audio botch.

I can do without the disco/fusion track or tracks, but the exploratory piano duel with his brother Charlie, and the other expansive stretches are good, as is the title cut (which I first heard as part of a station ID for WXPN in the 80s, without knowing who it was, many years before I ever got into salsa).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=i1huT6eX6bw

I just repeated my earlier post even more than I realized. This is why I am a semi-retired poster.

As far as Palmieri goes, in general, my favorite material now is most of the La Perfecta era (not so much the first album) and large stretches of what he put out in the 70s through very early 80s. After that it's a lot more hit and miss, but I don't generally care for purely jazz-focused EP, which tended to become more dominant at some point in the early 90s if not sooner. Not going to check to see to what extent I am repeating myself again.

Watched some of his solo NPR Tiny Desk appearance. No obvious dance rhythms till the third tune. The first two are nice and only occasionally get into the discordant banging he sometimes does solo.

http://www.npr.org/2016/08/18/490480164/eddie-palmieri-tiny-desk-concert

http://www.villagevoice.com/2017/05/16/palmieris-wisdom/

Palmieri's been doing a bunch of Monday gigs in NYC at Subrosa-- some noisy, some slightly more rhythmic.

i saw him last year in a big outdoor amphitheater and it was SO FUN
so much dancing, lots of energy, awesome show

Saturday (tomorrow, 16) at Lehman Center, Bronx: Eddie Palmieri and Friends, plus (quoting the propaganda): "Del Caribe Latin Jazz All Stars, led by Cuban pianist, master arranger and composer Emilio Morales, musical director and tres guitarist Nelson Gonzalez with musicians: Johnny Rodriguez, Ruben Rodriguez, George Delgado, Orestes Vilato, Ricardo Pons, and special invited guest artist, Giovanni Hidalgo." This is a chance to hear two great pianists. You know Eddie Palmieri, and you might know Havana piano hero Emilio Morales, but if you don't, you should. This band of Emilio + Nelson + the cats played Monday night in a tribute to Palmieri at the Bronx Museum, and it's a treat.

That's from N*d S*blette's email newsletter

can't believe he's in his 80s. perfect way to spend a cinco de mayo, even if he is from puerto rico

Wait you are seeing him tonight? Saw his double riding a bike along the East River yesterday

yes. he had a fancy princeton theater doing a conga line by the end of the show. magical

the album he put out last year, "sabiduria", is fantastic

How did I not listen to Sabiduria last year. Some great tracks on it. I like the New Orleans flavored one, and several others. This effort is more lively than some previous ones of his.

New album out today
https://www.broadwayworld.com/bwwmusic/article/Eddie-Palmieri-Releases-New-Album-Mi-Luz-Mayor-20181207

Both of his 2018 albums are great, but they're very different from each other.

Also, I interviewed him back in September and it was awesome.

wow, he's on a roll after sabiduria just last year and full circle earlier this year

this one is way more straight-ahead than those other ones, though

Yeah, it's all songs his late wife used to like, apparently.

aw that's sweet <3

He's got an app for music students to use now too---

Palmieri Salsa Jams is billed as “the world’s first interactive salsa music app.”

Available through noted jazz trumpeter Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah’s Stretch Music App platform, Salsa Jams enables students to read sheet music or play along by ear for every song on Palmieri’s “Full Circle” album. They can also mute or fade out altogether any instrument, so that they can play that instrumental part, as well as control the tempo, loop rhythms and melodies, and more.

‘I put salsa on my spaghetti, baby!’
“If students mean anything to you, you want to set them on the right track,” said Palmieri, who — at 81 — is likely the most senior Latin music legend to release an app of any kind, let alone a salsa app.

Never mind that this bearded composer and band leader snorts with derision at the mere mention of the word salsa, which came to the fore in New York in the 1960s. He regards the commercial tag placed on this Cuban-inspired Latin dance music hybrid as simplistic and misleading.

“Fania Records came up with name ‘salsa’ and it’s a complete misnomer,” charged Palmieri, who in 1962 released his debut solo album, “La Perfecta,” on Fania and was later featured on the first Fania All-Stars album.

“Like my great friend, Tito Puente, used to say: ‘I put salsa on my spaghetti, baby!’ It (salsa) comes from rumba, guaracha, danzón, cha-cha, mambo, guaguancó, changüí. They all have their proper names, but we lump it under one name: ‘salsa’.”

https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/entertainment/music/sd-et-music-eddie-palmieri-interview-20181118-story.html

wow, a salsa app
will have to report this to my students

Interesting

Think I prefer the classic recordings of some of those tunes

Haven’t heard it yet, but guessing I will end up agreeing with you.

of his 2018 releases I like Full Circle the most so far.

.. it's so good!

https://youtu.be/MFQHW6yGBV4

Online Eddie Palmieri & La Perfecta II gig via NYC Summerstage