“It had to do with tension and resistance. That’s the way you would reach the highest degree of arrhythmical and harmonic climax,” says Palmieri. “And that’s the essence of an Afro-Cuban orchestra – to excite the dancers, like we used to in the Palladium Ballroom.”
Palmieri rose to prominence in the Latin band scene of the early 1960s, playing at venues such as New York’s Palladium Ballroom, where bandleaders like Tito Puente and Tito Rodriguez had been popularising the genre since the late ‘40s. When the ambitious young pianist came along with his group La Perfecta, they had a take-no-prisoners attitude.
“That orchestra put a hurt on all the orchestras that were existing at that time. We were just very fresh and very exciting to see, to watch and to dance to,” says Palmieri.
Although he would later go on to record a collaborative album with Puente, Obra Maestra, in 2000, the competition for bookings and audiences was extremely high in the early days. “They had no choice – you can’t stop a roaring locomotive,” Palmieri says. “What you got to do is just get out of the way.”
Palmieri released a series groundbreaking albums beginning in 1962. Each one seemed to expand the vocabulary of Latin music, incorporating unexpected instrumentation as well as Cuban and African rhythms. By 1971 he was up to his 15th LP, and third for that year alone, when he released Harlem River Drive. Involving members of Aretha Franklin’s touring band, and featuring English vocals for the first time, the record combined Latin music with soul and funk in attempt at crossing over to an R&B audience.
“That album was chosen as one of the top 50 recordings in New York City and it came in at number eight. That recording is the past, present and future,” says Palmieri.
The 1990s saw the release of three albums exploring the Latin jazz genre, which is what Melbourne audiences can expect to hear when Palmieri visits next week with his septet. “What I do with the Latin jazz is use the harmonic structures for the compositions of jazz, but the rhythm is always danceable. My enjoyment in life is to see them dancing like we used to do in the Palladium. It was between the dancers and the band, who was going to win.”
For this purpose Hamer Hall will be rearranged to accommodate a dancefloor during the performance. Palmieri has three different bands, and the septet only plays music from those Latin jazz albums. “One orchestra has nothing to do with the other, you see? There’s the septet, octet and then there’s a 13-piece orchestra with a Latin singer. That’s the most exciting actually, that’s concentrated power.”
At 79-years-old Palmieri still maintains an extremely busy touring schedule, as well as teaching university classes twice a month and working on new music.
“I’ve been writing more than ever. I work at it mentally constantly, and after that I’ll go right back to the piano. I do it the old fashioned way with the pencil and a score. I’m writing some exciting music, extending some symphonic work of my music to present it with an orchestra, which is about two years away. That will be to take it to Carnegie Hall and some classical places, and eventually recorded, of course.”
BY ALEX WATTS
