Eddie Palmieri

Recap of Europe and Launch of Online Store

admin — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 02:55:25 +0000

Hello Everyone!

We have just arrived from two great tours to Europe. Our first tour began in the UK, first we went to Manchester and then to Brighton. We lucked out in Brighton because our hotel was right by the beach, (always a good thing), and we had beautiful weather to boot. The concerts went very well and then we were off to Monsegur, France. In France, we saw great local talent and everyone treated us very well over there. It was a very family oriented Festival, which is always nice to see. The next day we went to Denmark to perform at the Copenhagen Jazz Festival where we had 10,000 people. After Copenhagen, we returned home and enjoyed a week off. Then it was time to pack our bags again and head back to Europe, now on our way to Paris to perform at the New Morning where we have performed for many years now. We always have a great turn out in Paris and watching everyone enjoy the show is always exciting for us. After Paris we went to Reims, which was absolutely wonderful; the band really played well. The tour continued with our next stop being Merano, Italy, which is right off the border of Austria. What a beautiful setting, truly spectacular to see. The venue was built in the early 19th century and they even had an old style Bösendorfer piano in the green room with antique paintings. We had a great sound engineer at that concert and we really took care of business performance wise; it was one of our best and the people loved it. From there we flew to Bari for another gig, and then the next day we had a three hour car ride that took us to Campodipietra, which was an extraordinary event in and of itself. There was an accident in the tunnel which meant that now we had to go over the mountains with lots of winding, tightly curved roads (that had no railings), in a thunder and lightning storm, and at one point we were even driving underneath windmills (this was worse than the “piquiñas” of PR!). What a spectacular ride! In Campodipietra I ran into Horacio “El Negro” Hernandez, a great drummer and great friend, who was on tour with the talented pianist Fahir Atakoğlu who is from Istanbul, Turkey. It was wonderful to see Negro and also to witness his translating skills…as Fahir would speak in English to the audience, Negro would translate what he was saying into Italian! Well done, Negro! (Oye, Negro, gracias por el vino y que viva el trio!!!) Also, a very special thank you to Enrico Iubatti for all of his hard work and sound engineering expertise for amplification of my acoustic piano. Gracias, Enrico!

The next day we had a three hour drive to Rome where we boarded a flight to Frankfurt and then from Frankfurt we came home. I want to take this opportunity to thank all the musicians that travel and perform with me on the different international bandstands – I am blessed with the opportunity to continue to perform!

With two days rest, I was on a plane to Vail, Colorado where I was the invited guest of Savion Glover, the tap dancer extraordinaire, to perform with him at the Vail International Dance Festival at the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater. Savion performed first with his presentation and then I came on afterwards. We closed the show just he and I in a duo playing La Libertad Logica and we brought the house down. It has been a great musical summer!

Last but not least, I am very happy to announce the launch of my new online store, which has three different t-shirts and a “Madman” baseball hat for sale so please take a moment to check out our new merchandise.

I want to thank my son Eddie Palmieri II and daughter Ileana “La Jibarita” for all the hard labor they knock out for me day in and day out…And, I want to thank everybody on my Newsletter Mailing List for your support – we will keep you informed of the events as they happen and I wish you a safe everyday.

Eddie Palmieri

About to go onstage in Reims, France

Dinner in Bari

Guest Commencement Speaker

admin — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 22:15:56 +0000

On Monday, June 21st I was a guest Commencement Speaker at my old Middle School PS 52 in the Bronx, which is now known as Middle School 302 x. I was very happy to be there, especially since it took a few years for me to make it because I was always traveling when initially approached by them. Last year they had Secretary of State Colin Powell as their speaker, who also graduated from the school. It was terrific watching the elation of all the students and seeing how enthusiastic and supportive they were of each other at the graduation ceremony. And of course, it was wonderful seeing the happiness and understandable pride of the parents and family members regarding the important scholastic achievements of their kids. After the honor students received their awards, then came the Cumbacheros Choir, directed by Rachel Baez..My biggest surprise was hearing them sing “Azucar Pa’ Ti” (I had no idea that they were going to sing it) and they sounded amazing! After that I helped the Principal distribute flowers to the faculty and staff and then it was time for a second surprise, I was given a Proclamation from the Bronx (narrated by my son, Eddie Palmieri II, (by the way, you did great, Eddie!!)), that June 21st is now considered Eddie Palmieri Day in the Bronx. This is a huge honor to treasure always and I want to congratulate everyone that is involved with this fantastic school – the happiness of the students and their families is testament to the incredible work you do. Special thanks to Evelyn Figueroa, Assistant Principal Larry Thornton and the Principal, Angel Rodriguez, for making it such a memorable experience.

The next day, I performed at Soundview Park, (also in the Bronx), where we performed with the large Salsa Orchestra. The show went very well and we got out of there just in time before the pouring rain came down. It was wonderful to fulfill the concert before “estaban llorando the gods.” We closed the show with Nicky Marrero, a dear friend, and it was a superb afternoon.

Three days later I found out from my daughter Ileana that “Azucar Pa’ Ti” was voted in to the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress! The list for 2009 is comprised of 25 compositions, with “Azucar Pa’ Ti” being one that represents the sound recording for the year 1965. This is a tremendous honor. I was so surprised that this happened and what a great feeling because this was a composition that turned things around with respect to commercial recording…Azucar went past the 2 minutes and 45 seconds that you had to record historically. Azucar is 8 minutes and 30 seconds, and with that, a new precedent was set with respect to sound recordings. It is a typical latin composition that has the section that is now being called latin jazz, all done in 1965. And I was thrilled that they also mentioned my bandstand buddy, Barry Rogers in the press release. This really was my sugar week!

Now I’m preparing to travel to Europe and we’ll have our first run of two separate trips to that wonderful Continent. We are traveling with our latin jazz group and it should be a very exciting summer.

Thank you very much for following us on our new blog! We certainly appreciate your continuous support…

New Website

admin — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 05:08:14 +0000

Hello everyone and welcome to my new website! I hope you enjoy the new site and find it fun and informative. Thank you, Nick, for all that you’ve done..

OK, here’s a quick run down of the past month; I’ve just returned from Puerto Rico where I performed Vamonos Pal Monte with a big band at the Heineken Jazz Festival which went very well, as well as the Washington DC Jazz Fest with my latin jazz septet. Now I’m looking forward to an exciting summer where I’ll be performing in the Bronx and then off to Europe again… and thank you for constantly checking in about what I’m doing, I appreciate it deeply in my heart and am so grateful for all the loyal fans throughout the world!

P.S. My daughter would like for me to say to please sign up for the RSS feed, although I’m not exactly sure what that means…