Salsa and Latin jazz composer and pianist Eddie Palmieri, who has collected numerous Grammy awards, will perform Friday evening, May 12, in Sauder Concert Hall at Goshen College. Photo provided.

News Release

GOSHEN — Grammy award winner Eddie Palmieri and his band will be performing at Goshen College at 7:30 p.m. Friday, May 12, as part of the college’s Performing Arts Series in Sauder Concert Hall.

Known as one of the finest pianists of the past 60 years, Palmieri is a bandleader, arranger and composer of salsa and Latin jazz. His playing fuses the rhythm of his Puerto Rican heritage with the complexity of his jazz influences: Thelonious Monk, Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner and his older brother, Charlie Palmieri.

Palmieri’s professional career as a pianist took off with various bands in the early 1950s, including Eddie Forrester, Johnny Segui’s and the popular Tito Rodriguez Orchestra. In 1961, Palmieri formed his own band, La Perfecta, which featured an unconventional front line of trombones rather than trumpets, the custom in Latin orchestras. This created a sound that mixed American jazz into Afro-Caribbean rhythms, surprising critics and fans alike. In 1975, Palmieri won the first-ever Grammy for Best Latin Recording for The Sun of Latin Music (he’s won 10 Grammys altogether to date), including two for his influential recording with Tito Puente, Obra Maestra/Masterpiece.

Recognizing Palmieri as an American icon, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C., recorded two of Palmieri’s performances for its archives in 1988. Because of Palmieri’s proclivity for creating music in funk Latin style, little Louie Vega invited him to record on “Nuyorican Soul” (1997), a release that became popular in the house and underground music scenes.

Tickets are $40, $35 or $30 and are available online at goshen.edu/tickets or at the box office by calling (574) 535-7566.

Upcoming in the Performing Arts Series is an evening with Ira Glass: “Seven Things I’ve Learned,” which will be at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, June 3. Non-package ticket pricing is $55, $50, $40.