A quirky man with quirky rhythm

Young Chang

Eddie Palmieri hopes it will rain again. This week the sun has come

out in New York, where Palmieri lives when he is not in Puerto Rico.

Rain is water, and water is life, he says. A clear sky means the

planets must have stopped hovering near the Earth.

The Latin jazz performer, pianist and composer is full of fanciful

maxims and tales.

He says his friend and mentor Tito Puente, a Latin jazz legend who

passed away in May, is now probably performing on the moon.

Today, Palmieri continues doing what Puente, whom he calls “the

greatest bandstand warrior,” did -- interpreting salsa and Afro-Cuban

rhythms into jazz. He will debut at the Orange County Performing Arts

Center’s J.P. Morgan Jazz Club Series tonight.

Palmieri thanks the powers of watercress, parsley, garlic and virgin

olive oil for his good health.

“This is my daily medicinal, spiritual routine, every day since 1969,”

said the 63-year old musician. And there’s nothing like a little bit of

yogurt to increase flexibility of the spine, he added.

The spine, to Palmieri, is where the rhythm is. He hasn’t forgotten

how to play the timbales -- a form of drums -- though he last played

them seriously when he was 13 in Spanish Harlem. The talent is in his

spine, he said, the “cabinet of muscular achievement.”

To his admirers, he jokes that Puente gave him his gloves, and that’s

why he can skillfully play the timbales to this day.

But his performance tonight will have nothing to do with magic gloves.

Palmieri started playing the piano when he was 8. His mother, who was

“the most beautiful young woman coming at the most dangerous time to [the

U.S.] from Puerto Rico,” insisted on a music education for her children.

Palmieri said his brother, the late salsa and piano legend Charlie

Palmieri, is the greatest piano player in the Latin Jazz genre.

They wanted to be the next Tito Puente, Eddie Palmieri said. All the

kids did.

When Palmieri was 11, he first performed at Carnegie Hall. Two years

later, he joined his uncle’s orchestra with the timbales. In the early

1950s, he began his professional career as a pianist with the Eddie

Forrester’s Orchestra. He later joined Johnny Segui’s band and the Tito

Rodriguez Orchestra.

He started his own band, called the Conjunto La Perfecta in the early

1960s. The arrangement of the band -- two trombones, a flute, percussion,

bass and a vocalist -- was thought to be unconventional by musicians of

that time.

Today the five-time Grammy winner has 32 albums to his credit.

“I consider myself to be a unique student,” he said. “Eventually, I

will be a unique teacher. Someday I hope to be able to help the youth.”

Palmieri’s son, Eddie Palmieri II, said he was raised on his father’s

music.

“But it’s Afro-world rhythms now,” said Palmieri II, who has served as

his father’s manager for six years. “Afro-Caribbean, Afro-world, all the

genres of music.”

The duo started this year’s round of music tours in Australia. They

performed in Europe during the earlier months and will stop by Orange

County before ending the year in Puerto Rico.

“After that, I will stay in Puerto Rico and hide and heal from Old Man

Winter,” the elder Palmieri said. “That also adds to good health.”

FYI:

WHAT: Eddie Palmieri will make his debut with the Orange County

Performing Arts Center’s J.P. Morgan Jazz Club Series

WHEN: 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. today and Saturday.

WHERE: Founders Hall, Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town

Center Drive, Costa Mesa

COST: $46 for the 7:30 p.m. shows, $42 for the 9:30 p.m. shows

CALL: (714) 740-7878