BEVERLY HILLS, CA. (Concord
Music Group/ www.concordrecords.com) - The world has long admired the Harlem-born, six-time GRAMMY Award-winning Eddie Palmieri as one of the foremost Latin musicians of the last half-century. His ability to fuse the rhythms of his Hispanic, Puerto Rican heritage with the jazz influences of Thelonious Monk and McCoy Tyner made him an immediate hit when he played New York's Palladium Ballroom in the 1950s and '60s and a maverick threat to that period's "Big Three" - Tito Puente, Machito and Tito Rodriguez.
Palmieri has continued to roll on with stylistic innovations over the years, creating classic Tico albums and later mixing salsa with R&B, pop, rock, Spanish vocals and more jazz improvisation. Now 68, the pianist - who in 2005 celebrates an amazing 50-year career as a professional musician - simply revolutionized the sound of Latin music, an accomplishment that alone would ensure his place in the music pantheon.
To mark his half-century as a working musician and his 45th year as one of Latin music's foremost bandleaders, Eddie Palmieri releases "Listen Here!" on June 14, 2005.
Palmieri, for the first time in his career, arranged four jazz classics, "Nica's Dream," "In Walked Bud," "Tin Tin Deo" and the title track, as well as composed six original tracks for the date. The piano maestro and his co-producer Richard Seidel also assembled an all-star cohort of guest soloists - Michael Brecker, Regina Carter, Christian McBride, Nicholas Payton, David Sanchez and John Scofield - to join Brian Lynch, Conrad Herwig and Donald Harrison, bassist John Benitez, Cuban traps master Horacio "El Negro" Hernandez, and master conguero Giovanni Hidalgo, all veterans of various Palmieri ensembles. Together, they inspire Palmieri to uncork some of his greatest solos on record.
Eddie Palmieri will be touring in 2005 to promote "Listen Here!" A complete list of tour dates is available at www.concordrecords.com
Concord Picante, home to such Latin jazz greats as Charlie Byrd, Tania Maria, Tito Puente, Cal Tjader, Mongo Santamaria, and Poncho Sanchez, celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2005. Palmieri's "Listen Here!" is just one of the Latin jazz projects planned as part of the label's year-long celebration. Other releases include: "Explorations: Classic Picante Regrooved," a 13-track collection of hip new mixes and live takes of seminal Picante tracks; "Concord Picante 25th Anniversary Collection," a 4-CD box set of Picante artists; Diane Schuur's collaboration with Dave Samuels featuring the Caribbean Jazz Project, "Schuur Fire"; and, a new release from conguero Poncho Sanchez, featuring The Tower of Power.
