Latest news with #EddiePalmieri
Epoch Times
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Epoch Times
‘Madman of Salsa' Eddie Palmieri Dies at 88
Musician and composer Eddie Palmieri, an icon of salsa and Latin music known in the United States as the 'Madman of Salsa,' died at the age of 88 on Aug. 6, his family said in a statement. 'Eddie Palmieri, legendary pianist, composer, bandleader, and one of the most influential figures in Latin music history, passed away at his New Jersey residence,' his family wrote in an Instagram post on Aug. 6. 'Eddie will live on eternally in our hearts for all time.
Los Angeles Times
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Eddie Palmieri, a champion of Latin jazz, dies at 88
Eddie Palmieri, the Grammy-winning Nuyorican pianist, bandleader and composer who helped innovate Afro-Caribbean music in the States and transform the New York salsa scene, died on Wednesday. He was 88. According to a post on his official Instagram, Palmieri passed away in his Hackensack, N.J., home. The New York Times confirmed via his youngest daughter, Gabriela Palmieri, that his death came after 'an extended illness.' Multiple celebrities chimed in to pay their respects, including Spike Lee, Ramon Rodriguez and representatives from Fania Records, the pioneering New York salsa label, also released a statement. '[On Wednesday], Fania Records mourns the loss of the legendary Eddie Palmieri, one of the most innovative and unique artists in music history,' the statement said. Palmieri briefly recorded music with the label but also released music under Tico, Alegre, Concord Picante, RMM and Coco Records. Others took to social media to mourn the loss, including David Sanchez, a Grammy-winning jazz tenor saxophonist from Puerto Rico, who uploaded a slideshow of photographs of the two. Sanchez recounted the time when his soprano saxophone was stolen — and Palmieri helped him pay for a new one. 'Your being and your music will continue to live on in the hearts of many,' Sanchez wrote in the Instagram caption. Palmieri's contemporary Chuchito Valdes, a Grammy-winning Cuban pianist and bandleader, also chimed in with an Instagram post lamenting the loss: 'A sad day for music. One of the greatest of all time is gone, an innovator. The man who revolutionized salsa and Latin jazz. My great friend.' Born on Dec. 15, 1936, in East Harlem to Puerto Rican parents from Ponce, Palmieri was the younger brother of Charlie Palmieri, the late piano legend known as the 'Giant of the Keyboards.' The family later moved to the South Bronx, where they opened up a luncheonette called 'Mambo': a name chosen by young Eddie, who was enthralled by the Cuban dance hall rhythms. He often controlled the jukebox with blissful Latin jazz tunes by Tito Puente, Tito Rodriguez and Machito. Palmieri was deeply influenced and inspired by his older brother, who was nine years his senior and introduced him to prominent big-band acts of the 1940s, like Tommy Dorsey, Glenn Miller and Woody Herman, all of whom seemed to dissolve by the end of World War II. Though Palmieri had an itch to lean into the timbales like Tito Puente, he would eventually follow in his brother's footsteps and take piano lessons from Margaret Bonds, one of the most prominent African American concert pianists at the time. Although he briefly joined his uncle's orchestra, Chino y sus Almas Tropicales, as a timbal player, Palmieri rose to fame as a pianist, playing with various bands including the Eddie Forrester Orchestra, Johnny Segui and His Orchestra, and eventually Tito Rodriguez and His Orchestra, which was a main act at the Palladium Ballroom between 1958 to 1960. 'In the audience, you could have maybe a Marlon Brando, Kim Novak, all the Hollywood starlets because it was the height of the mambo,' said Palmieri in a 2013 interview with Jo Reed. 'On Saturday, you had the blue-collar, mostly Puerto Rican. And then Sunday was black, Afro-American. It was intermingled or different nationalities that had nothing to do whether you were green, purple, white, we came to dance.' But in 1961, Palmieri went on to start his own band, La Perfecta, an ironic title given its not-so-perfect setup. It formed as an eight-piece Cuban conjunto, which ditched the traditional jazzy saxophone. There were timbales, congas, bongos, bass, piano and vocals — but with a twist of its own kind: the inclusion of two trombones, played by Barry Rogers and Jose Rodriguez, instead of the costly four-set trumpets. Palmieri also added a whistling flute, played by George Castro, for a charanga edge (in the place of a traditional violin). 'La Perfecta changed everything in the history of our genre, in my opinion. Certainly in New York,' said Palmieri. 'And then influenced the world, because after that all the pawn shops got rid of their trombones.' His group helped usher in the iconic salsa genre with their first album, 'Eddie Palmieri and His Conjunto 'La Perfecta,'' dubbing him the nickname 'Madman of salsa.' However, he was not too fond of the emerging term, which seemed to cram different styles like mambo, charanga, rumba, guaracha and danzón into one single category. 'Afro-Cuban is where we get the music,' explained Palmieri in a 2012 interview with the Smithsonian Oral History Project. 'The influence of the Puerto Rican is the one [that] upheld the rhythmical patterns and the genre of Cuba. So then that becomes Afro-Caribbean.' La Perfecta went on to release its most famed album, 'Azúcar Pa' Ti' in 1965. It included the song 'Azúcar,' an eight-minute track that was later added to the National Recording Registry in 2009. In 1976, Palmieri became the first to win a Grammy for the inaugural category of best Latin recording, for his album 'Sun of Latin Music.' He holds a total of eight Grammy awards. In 2013, the National Endowment for the Arts honored him as a Jazz Master and the Latin Grammys granted him a Lifetime Achievement Award. But Eddie Palmieri's impact spanned beyond his own accomplishments. He was a mentor, a teacher and an advocate for Latin music and culture, which includes advocating twice for the inclusion of the Latin jazz album category in the Grammys — first in 1995, then again in 2012 after its removal. Palmieri was predeceased by his wife of 58 years, Iraida Palmieri, who passed away in 2014 — and who he often referred to as 'Mi Luz Mayor.' He is survived by his four daughters, Renee, Eydie, Ileana and Gabriela; his son, Edward Palmieri II; and four grandchildren.
Japan Today
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Japan Today
Eddie Palmieri, pioneering Latin jazz musician and Grammy winner, dies at 88
By SIGAL RATNER-ARIAS Eddie Palmieri, the avant-garde musician who was one of the most innovative artists of rumba and Latin jazz, has died. He was 88. Fania Records announced Palmieri's death Wednesday evening. Palmieri's daughter Gabriela told The New York Times that her father died earlier that day at his home in New Jersey after 'an extended illness.' The pianist, composer and bandleader was the first Latino to win a Grammy Award and would win seven more over a career that spanned nearly 40 albums. Palmieri was born in New York's Spanish Harlem on December 15, 1936, at a time when music was seen as a way out of the ghetto. He began studying the piano at an early age, like his famous brother Charlie Palmieri, but at age 13, he began playing timbales in his uncle's orchestra, overcome with a desire for the drums. He eventually abandoned the instrument and went back to the playing piano. 'I'm a frustrated percussionist, so I take it out on the piano,' the musician once said in his website biography. His first Grammy win came in 1975 for the album 'The Sun of Latin Music,' and he kept releasing music into his 80s, performing through the coronavirus pandemic via livestreams. In a 2011 interview with The Associated Press, when asked if he had anything important left to do, he responded with his usual humility and good humor: 'Learning to play the piano well. ... Being a piano player is one thing. Being a pianist is another.' Palmieri dabbled in tropical music as a pianist during the 1950s with the Eddie Forrester Orchestra. He later joined Johnny Seguí's band and Tito Rodríguez's before forming his own band in 1961, La Perfecta, alongside trombonist Barry Rogers and singer Ismael Quintana. La Perfecta was the first to feature a trombone section instead of trumpets, something rarely seen in Latin music. With its unique sound, the band quickly joined the ranks of Machito, Tito Rodríguez, and other Latin orchestras of the time. Palmieri produced several albums on the Alegre and Tico Records labels, including the 1971 classic 'Vámonos pa'l monte,' with his brother Charlie as guest organist. Charlie Palmieri died in 1988. Eddie's unconventional approach would surprise critics and fans again that year with the release of 'Harlem River Drive,' in which he fused Black and Latin styles to produce a sound that encompassed elements of salsa, funk, soul, and jazz. Later, in 1974, he recorded 'The Sun of Latin Music' with a young Lalo Rodríguez. The album became the first Latin production to win a Grammy. In 1975, he recorded the album 'Eddie Palmieri & Friends in Concert, Live at the University of Puerto Rico,' considered by many fans to be a salsa gem. In the 1980s, he won two more Grammy Awards, for the albums 'Palo pa' rumba' (1984) and 'Solito' (1985). In 1987, he recorded salsa singer Tony Vega on the album 'La verdad,' and in 1992, he introduced the vocalist La India to the salsa world with the production 'Llegó La India vía Eddie Palmieri.' In 1998, he released 'El rumbero del piano,' in which he once again explored the aggressive salsa that had always characterized him. Palmieri released the album 'Masterpiece' in 2000, which teamed him with Tito Puente, who died that year. It was a hit with critics and won two Grammy Awards. The album was also chosen as the most outstanding production of the year by the National Foundation for Popular Culture of Puerto Rico. During his long career, he participated in concerts and recordings with the Fania All-Stars and Tico All-Stars, standing out as a composer, arranger, producer, and orchestra director. In 1988, the Smithsonian Institute recorded two of Palmieri's concerts for the catalog of the National Museum of American History in Washington. Yale University in 2002 awarded him the Chubb Fellowship Award, an award usually reserved for international heads of state, in recognition of his work in building communities through music. In 2005, he made his debut on National Public Radio as the host of the program 'Caliente,' which was carried by more than 160 radio stations nationwide. He worked with renowned musicians such as timbalero Nicky Marrero, bassist Israel 'Cachao' López, trumpeter Alfredo 'Chocolate' Armenteros, trombonist Lewis Khan, and Puerto Rican bassist Bobby Valentín. In 2010, Palmieri said he felt a bit lonely musically due to the deaths of many of the rumberos with whom he enjoyed playing. As a musical ambassador, he brought salsa and Latin jazz to places as far afield as North Africa, Australia, Asia and Europe, among others. Former Associated Press Writer Sigal Ratner-Arias is the primary author of this obituary. © Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Eddie Palmieri, Grammy-winning Latin music maestro, dies at 88
NEW YORK — Eddie Palmieri, the Harlem-born, Grammy-winning pianist and composer who revolutionized Latin music with his incorporation of various new sounds, died Wednesday. He was 88. Palmieri died after an 'extended illness' at his home in Hackensack, New Jersey, his daughter Gabriela told the New York Times. 'He was a mentor, a teacher, and a tireless advocate for Latin music and culture,' Palmieri's family wrote in an Instagram post. 'He inspired generations of musicians and moved countless listeners with his artistry, conviction and unmistakable sound.' An eight-time Grammy winner, Palmieri took both an iconoclastic and professorial approach to his music, striving for perfection through various means and genres. Known as a salsa music pioneer, Palmieri combined jazz, classical, boogaloo, funk, rock and more while remaining true to his Afro-Caribbean roots — he was the son of Puerto Rican immigrants in Spanish Harlem. One of Palmieri's most famous innovations was ditching a trumpet section in his 1960s band, La Perfecta, in favor of two trombones, a flute and a more pronounced rhythm section. 'It became an economic situation, the trombone or the flute,' Palmieri told the Smithsonian in 2012, describing putting together a band for club performances. 'Then one night I was able to have them both, and I said, 'That's it.'' La Perfecta, with trombonist Barry Rogers and vocalist Ismael Quintana, would release some of Palmieri's most beloved compositions, including their 1962 debut album and 1965's 'Azucar Pa' Ti.' Palmieri is survived by four daughters, Gabriela, Renee, Eydie and Ileana, and a son, Edward. His older brother, Charlie, was also a famous Latin pianist and predeceased him in 1988. His wife of 58 years, Iraida, died in 2014; he later dedicated an album to her titled 'Mi Luz Mayor.' Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Latin Music Legend Eddie Palmieri Dies at Age 88 Inside Longtime New Jersey Home Following ‘an Extended Illness'
Famed Latin jazz musician Eddie Palmieri has passed away at the age of 88 after suffering from "an extended illness." The East Harlem-born music legend, who became the first Latino to win a Grammy Award in 1975, died inside his longtime New Jersey home, his daughter, Gabriela, revealed to the New York Times. He is survived by Gabriela, as well as his three other daughters, Renee, Eydie, and Ileana, as well as a son, Edward, and four grandchildren. Palmieri was credited with being a pioneer of the Latin jazz scene in New York, earning a total of 10 Grammy Awards during his lifetime, while producing more than 30 albums. Having been born in Spanish Harlem, Palmieri—the brother of musician Charlie Palmieri—was introduced to music at a young age, when he first started learning piano, before he found a passion for drums after being enlisted to play timbales in his uncle's orchestra at age 13, according to his website. "Palmieri's parents emigrated from Ponce, Puerto Rico to New York City in 1926," Palmieri's biography states. "Born in Spanish Harlem and raised in the Bronx, Palmieri learned to play the piano at an early age, and at 13, he joined his uncle's orchestra, playing timbales." The musician spent much of his childhood living in the South Bronx, where he was raised by a seamstress mother, Isabel, and an electrician father, Carlos—both of whom placed a heavy emphasis on the importance of music in a child's development. Though he routinely described himself as a percussionist, it was piano that led Palmieri to greatness and saw his music career take off. "Palmieri's professional career as a pianist took off with various bands in the early 1950s, including Eddie Forrester, Johnny Segui's, and the popular Tito Rodriguez Orchestra." In the 1960s, the musician formed his own band, La Perfecta, through which he cultivated a unique sound by replacing trumpets with trombones, a move that "mixed American jazz into Afro-Caribbean rhythms, surprising critics and fans alike." His surprising blend of what had previously been seen as very distinctive Black and Latin sounds was a key aspect of his debut album, "Harlem River Drive," as well as his Grammy Award-winning album, "The Sun of Latin Music." Palmieri continued to release music regularly up until his death—and was still delighting audiences with his live performances even in his final years, particularly in and around New York. The music legend spent the majority of his life in the tri-state area, however he relocated to Puerto Rico for a few years in the 1980s, after traveling there to care for his mother. During that time he recorded three different albums, each of which won a Grammy; however, he noted in a later interview that he found the process of living and working in Puerto Rico very "difficult." "I felt completely oppressed over there," he once revealed, according to Musician Guide. "I tried to get a helping hand from the orchestras in Puerto Rico, but I just frightened them away.... It was quite difficult. We were hurting for employment.... [The local musicians] wouldn't allow me in." After his return to New York City in the late 1980s, Palmieri's career continued to go from strength to strength; in addition to his collection of Grammy Awards, the musician was also awarded multiple other accolades, including a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Latin Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences in 2013. He was also honored by the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian, which recorded two of his live performances for its archives, according to Palmieri's website. However, he faced his fair share of struggles along the way, engaging in battles with high-paid music executives, with the New York Times noting that he once admitted to feeling like he was being "attacked constantly" in the industry. "You're getting attacked constantly, one way or the other: fights with the promoters, fighting with the record labels," he said. The outlet also noted that Palmieri took a strong stance against the IRS, refusing to pay taxes for several years after becoming enamored with the works of economist Henry George, who believes that income taxes were a form of legal robbery. Eventually, his rebellion caught up with him. IRS agents began showing up at his concerts and eventually led him away in handcuffs, although he was able to work out a deal with the agency to repay the money he owed. Despite his more controversial stances, Palmieri remained a legend in the New York music scene up until his death—and was renowned for his deep dedication to the South Bronx and its Latin community. However, for the last 10 years of his life, the musician had been based just outside the city, in Hackensack, NJ, where he owned a humble four-bedroom dwelling, according to property records. The property was purchased for $338,000 in 2015, one year after Iraida, his wife of 58 years, passed away. Located on a quiet cul-de-sac, the property features a sizable backyard, complete with a large deck for entertaining, as well as a sunlit music room. Solve the daily Crossword
