words yvonne teh

A jazz sextet performing at the 2008 HK Arts Festival is led by an Afro-Caribbean music icon.

In 1974, legendary Latino musician Eddie Palmieri and some friends, including singer-songwriter Lalo Rodriguez, recorded an album entitled The Sun of Latin Music that went on to win Palmieri his first Grammy award. He has since won eight more of those super prestigious music prizes, including one other in the year following his first. But the pianist and bandleader – who also composes, arranges, and conducts his share of music – still considers that first Grammy to be the most satisfying. “[It was] the most important because I was the first Latino in the whole world to receive the award from the National Academy of Arts and Sciences” he says. And, by winning that, he cemented his status as one of the undisputed icons of Latin music.

More than three decades on, the revolutionary elder statesman of that type of music, who has been called The Renegade of Latin Jazz, The Madman of Afro-Caribbean Music, and even The Messiah as well as – as per his award-winning album’s title – The Sun of Latin Music remains an active fixture on the international music scene. He also is still famously energetic and innovative – he describes a recent completed tour as consisting of “21 engagements in 28 days in 11 countries in Europe!”

The month of March sees Palmieri flying into the Fragrant Harbour with the rest of the Eddie Palmieri Afro-Caribbean Jazz Sextet to perform in two concerts as part of the 36th HK Arts Festival. Born in New York on December 15, 1936, to a pair of Puerto-Rican immigrants, Palmieri celebrated his half-century as a professional musician back in 2005. When asked what keeps him going, he grandly asserts, “The spirit of investigation in music keeps my organism searching and reaching to satisfy the listening public.” And then, even though he has already garnered a boatload of achievements over the course of his professional career, he adds, “As far as presenting my music on another scale more frequently, I would love to do more symphonic works.”

As that particular ambition shows, Palmieri has never been interested in just a single type of music. A student of Margaret Bonds, “an amazing classical pianist [whose] studio was in the Carnegie Hall building” early on in his life, he nonetheless points out, “The fundamentals of my music are the rhythmical structures that started in Africa and were crystallized in Cuba. [At the same time,] I have always attempted to bring elements of classical, jazz, blues [and] funk to my music.” Small wonder then that he is able to state, “I consider myself a well-rounded musician. The playback of all my recordings throughout my career represents a wide spectrum of sound.”

The piano is Palmieri’s favourite instrument, although he started off as a drummer. “I’m a frustrated percussionist,” he says, not entirely seriously, “so I take it out on the piano”! He finds the talking drum appealing, and says the conga plays a major role in his musical presentation. At the end of the day though, it is with the piano that he has built his collection of melodies, compositions and arrangements. And so he talks endearingly of it as “that beautiful instrument”.

All indications are that Palmieri will be seated at the piano when he and the other “magnificent musicians” who make up his band attempt to heat up the HK Cultural Centre’s Concert Hall on March 13 and 14. Rounding up the Eddie Palmieri Afro-Caribbean Jazz Sextet are another Grammy award winner in Brian Lynch on trumpet, smooth jazz specialist Donald Harrison on alto saxophone, Jose Claussell on timbales (the only other instrument that Palmieri has actually played professionally in his career), dancer turned percussionist Vicente ‘Little Johnny’ Rivero on congas, and Luques Curtis on bass.

It is easy to hear when listening to their music that for this sextet rhythm is all-important – which is why Palmieri’s audiences are often compelled to leave their seats and dance. While the Hong Kong venue in which the six will be performing makes that physically impossible, the musical powerhouse still guarantees “an exciting two days”. And as to what he thinks his audience will particularly get a kick out of, Palmieri shares that, “I believe that the audience will not only enjoy the sincere musical preparation of each artist on the bandstand but the showmanship as well!”

The Eddie Palmieri Afro-Caribbean Jazz Sextet will perform on March 13 and 14 at the HK Cultural Centre’s Concert Hall. Showtime is 8pm. Tickets are $460 to $160 from URBTIX, 2734 9009.