Eddie Palmieri

album cover

Salsa, Expanded for Full Orchestra

Even in its experimental moments, Afro-Cuban music doesn't usually stray far from the dance floor. The truly great bands consider keeping dancers happy to be their primary mission. They hew to the familiar song forms and follow the example of Tito Puente, the don of Latin music, who believed in swinging and not going too kooky on people.

Curious musicians eventually chafe under such restrictions. Among those who found ways to rebel was Eddie Palmieri, the pianist and composer who became a major figure in New York Latin music in the '60s. A student of everything from bebop to Stravinsky and twentieth-century composition, Palmieri showed early in his career that he was capable of suppressing his anarchic instincts long enough to play it straight. But after a few critically hailed dance projects, he'd take a hard left—exploring a Latin-jazz full of upheaval, or, in the case of this self-titled, magnificent 1982 release, writing suites for orchestra that radically expand conventional salsa form.

There are just five pieces, and each takes a different winding path to arrive at its formidable dance pulse. Palmieri wrote fanfares that reach back to the quaint Cuban ceremonial style of the 1920s, danzón, and introspective tempoless passages unlike anything in the canon. He left space for long improvisations—among the most memorable is Barry Rogers's bluesy trombone solo on the swaggering "No me hagas sufrir."

Palmieri didn't use the orchestra simply for backgrounds: He conceived of the project as an extended conversation between orchestra and rhythm section, and his score contains plenty to keep the studio musicians busy. On the elaborate "El día que me quieras," for example, the theme is first stated by oboe, then a rococo woodwind ensemble. When vocalist Cheo Feliciano finally enters, his lines float along, with the same baroque winds providing a cushion. Recalling the arduous sessions, Palmieri said years later that what amazed him was the ways Feliciano and the other featured vocalist, Ismael Miranda, seized and exploited the massive arrangements: "No matter what was going on, and at times that orchestra was loud, when the singing started everything hit a higher level."

Genre: World, Latin
Released: 1982, Fania
Key Tracks: "No me hagas sufrir," "El día que me quieras"
Catalog Choice: Lo que traigo es sabroso; La perfecta
Next Stop: Orchestra Harlow: The Best of Orchestra Harlow with Ismael Miranda
After That: Malavoi: Matebis
Book Pages: 574–575