Eddie Palmieri won his first Grammy Award in 1975 for his record The Sun of Latin Music but since then, he hasn’t rested on his laurels. Born in New York of Puerto Rican extraction in 1936, he has enjoyed a triumphant career as a pianist. For forty years he has been popular in both the classical style of Thelonious Monk, McCoy Tyner and Herbie Hancock, as well as the realm of fusion Latin jazz and salsa. Palmieri grew up in a musical family: his elder brother Charlie Palmieri is also a famous pianist while his uncle led one of the most popular bands of the Spanish Harlem. Eddie made his debut as a drummer in this band when he was thirteen but soon returned to the piano, before forming his first salsa band in 1971, La Perfecta. He recorded his first album with the band and this has been followed up with another thirty one in the ensuing forty five years, winning six Grammy nominations and nine Grammy Awards (most recently for his joint Simpático CD with trumpeter Brian Lynch). In a word, Palmieri may be seventy one on paper, but he is still as fresh as a daisy! And to ensure that the 21st century experiences full blooded salsa, in 2002 he reformed La Perfecta. We have every reason to expect we are going to hear some truly remarkable dance music and jazz. The musical culture of Spanish and Portuguese speaking territories, which extend from the Iberian Peninsula to Latin America is far too expansive to be able to explore adequately in three days. Latin is a kind of verbal shorthand which admits such diverse styles as Spanish flamenco, Portuguese fado, Cuban bolero and rumba, Columbian cumbia, Puerto Rican plena, Brazilian samba and bossa nova or even the music of Peruvian and Chilean Indians. This festival though is sufficient to give a taste and present it: Latin music can launch you without dance steps into another freer and more fascinating world.

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