The 'Sun of Latin Jazz' to Shine on Afro-Cuban Music Celebration
A salute to Eddie Palmieri, the Latin icon and piano innovator known as the “Sun of Latin Jazz,” continues the Office for the Arts’ year-long Afro-Cuban music celebration this spring. Palmieri will visit Harvard in March and April. Writer Pablo “Yoruba” Bruzman describes Palmieri’s La Perfecta band as “one of the seminal units in musical history.” On February 11, Palmieri’s recording “Simpatico”
(the Brian Lynch/Eddie Palmieri Project) won a Grammy Award for the Best Latin Jazz Album 2007.
Palmieri’s collaborator, trumpeter Brian Lynch, will also appear at Harvard in April, following his December performance in Lowell Hall with Latin percussionist Bobby Sanabria and the Harvard Jazz Bands. “Lynch and Palmieri are arguably each the most important Latin jazz voices of their respective generations, thanks in no small part to their writing and arranging abilities,” notes Evan C. Gutierrez in All Music Guide.
Palmieri, along with Brian Lynch, will be featured in
“The Afro-Cuban Connection,” a concert in Sanders Theatre on Saturday April 14 that will showcase the master and celebrate the Harvard Jazz Band’s 35th anniversary. Tom Everett, Director of Harvard Bands, explains how “Palmieri has expanded the traditional Cuban piano vocabulary to include elements of modal jazz, as influenced by McCoy Tyner.” Two undergraduate big bands and the Harvard Alumni Jazz Band (in its first Harvard concert appearance) will join the guest artists.
“Throughout his career, Eddie’s innovative ensembles have been known for featuring modern jazz trumpet, trombone, and flute soloists,” says Everett. “On April 14, he’ll perform in several settings reflecting this evolution.” The evening will include an unaccompanied Palmieri piano solo, a newly commissioned arrangement of Palmieri’s “Elena, Elena” by Sam Burtis and “The Palmieri Effect” by Brian Lynch. Tickets to “The Afro-Cuban Connection” are on sale through the Harvard Box Office, 617.496.2222 or www.boxoffice.harvard.edu.
While at Harvard, Palmieri will also participate in other aspects of Harvard life, including a visit with the Nieman Foundation Fellows and students in the Department of Music’s Seminar in Ethnomusicology, taught by Professor Ingrid Monson. José Massó, host of WBUR’s “¡Con Salsa!” program will lead a conversation with Palmieri through the Learning From Performers program on Friday, April 13 at 4 pm in the Cabot House Living Room. The event is free and open to the public. “¡Con Salsa!” is a bilingual music program presented Saturday nights on 90.9 FM from midnight until 5:00 a.m. The show includes the best of Afro-Cuban music, salsa, Latin jazz, merengue, nueva trova, and world music.
Palmieri’s discography includes more than 32 titles. His 2006 release “Listen Here!” won the Grammy for Best Latin Jazz Album, the eighth of his 50-year-long career as a bandleader of salsa and Latin-jazz orchestras. His other Grammys include the Best Latin Album category for “The Sun of Latin Music” (1975), “Unfinished Masterpiece” (1976), “Palo Pa’ Rumba” (1984), “Solito” (1985) and “La Verdad” (1987). He received two Grammys for his 2000 release with Tito Puente “Obra Maestra/Masterpiece,” including one from the
Latin Grammys.
His accomplishments have taken him through Europe, Japan, and Latin America, showcasing his seasoned musicians and kaleidoscopic musical styles. He served as a consultant to Paul Simon on his 1990 release “Rhythm of the Saints” and in 1993 was appointed to the board of governors of the New York chapter of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. In recent years, Palmieri’s band members have included Brian Lynch, saxophonists Donald Harrison and David Sanchez, and trombonist Conrad Herwig.
Lynch has played with Palmieri for nearly 20 years. His trumpet style “owes a lot to the rhythmic flash and harmonic jolts of bebop language—a stylish, cerebral thing,” writes Ben Ratliff in the New York Times, “and he likes improvising that way within Cuban clave rhythm.” Lynch performed with Horace Silver (1982-85) and the Toshiko Akiyoshi Jazz Orchestra (1982-1988). In 1988 he joined what turned out to be the final edition of Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. He began his association with Phil Woods in 1992, and also worked frequently with Benny Golson. In recent years he’s worked with Buena Vista Social Club alumnus Barbarito Torres, dance re-mixer Joe Clausell, and the members of the influential Latin alternative group Yerba Buena. He arranges for Japanese pop star Mika Nakashima and producer Shinichi Osawa, and has written string charts for Phil Woods and played with such pop luminaries as Maxwell, Prince, and Sheila E. A native of Milwaukee, Lynch lives in New York City.
Jazz programs at Harvard University were initiated in 1971 by Tom Everett and have developed in conjunction with the Office for the Arts at Harvard since 1976. Artists such as Jim Hall, Jon Hendricks, Joe Lovano, Benny Carter, Max Roach, J.J. Johnson, Bill Evans, Randy Weston, and Carla Bley have participated.
For more information, contact Tom Everett (617.496.BAND, everett@fas. harvard.edu) or OFA Director of Programs Cathy McCormick (617.495.8676 or cathleen_mccormick@ harvard.edu).
