We remember Eddie Palmieri as the fearless innovator who brought oodles of dissonance and a touch of acid-rock to misunderstood masterpieces like The Sun of Latin Music and Lucumí, Macumba, Voodoo. We remember him as the socially conscious bandleader who took salsa to the downtrodden of the earth by recording a live album at the Sing Sing jail, and the assured virtuoso who changed the face of tropical music with timeless anthems such as Azúcar and Oyelo Que Te Conviene.

Before he became a certified salsa anarchist, however, Eddie Palmieri was an enthusiastic beginner who was just getting his feet wet in the Latin recording business.

Eddie's classic 1962 debut with his La Perfecta orchestra shows us a more innocent side of his personality. The 12 songs here will make you dance (this is, after all, an Eddie Palmieri record), but they will also make you shiver with nostalgia for a different time in Latin music - a time when songs were shorter, and seeped in honey-sweet layers of Afro-Cuban flavor.

"La Perfecta" may be Eddie's first recording, but the keyboardist was not new to the New York Latin circuit. To begin with, he had benefited from the life changing influence of his older brother Charlie, a technically superior pianist who enriched Eddie's education at home by playing him records of mainstream jazz and Cuban music.

Eddie began as a timbalero, which explains his highly percussive approach to the keyboards. He was only 15 when Charlie recommended him to local bands. Before founding La Perfecta, he spent a number of years playing with New York luminaries such as Vicentico Valdés and Tito Rodríguez. Both crooners favored a smooth, highly traditional approach. Eddie was ready to change the world.

He wasn't alone, either. "La Perfecta" includes a number of dazzling performers whom Palmieri had discovered in his years of playing night club after night club. When the time came to assemble his own orchestra, Eddie was wise to recruit sonero Ismael Quintana, trombonist Barry Rogers and percussionist Manny Oquendo - all three would become legends in their own right in decades to come.

Eddie's piano solos are surprisingly concise on tracks such as the bouncy "El Gavilán" and the joyful pachanga opener "Conmigo." But you can still hear his trademark growls as he takes the spotlight from this tight band for a few bars of his piano magic.

An ode to the irresistible beauty of Puerto Rico, "Mi Isla Preciosa" is miles away in sophistication from the orgiastic "Puerto Rico" that Eddie would record in the '70s with a young Lalo Rodríguez. Still, it is one of this session's highlights, seeped as it is in that indelible mood of vintage tropical music - an endearing combination of happiness and longing.

At first, Palmieri dreamed of assembling a luxurious Cuban-styled conjunto with four trumpets. The financial limitations of the Alegre label, however, forced him to experiment with various brass combinations, incorporating flute solos and thick trombone riffs. In subsequent years, Eddie would turn the limitations around, cementing the trademark La Perfecta aesthetic of roaring trombones.

At the beginning of the new millennium, the maestro did the unthinkable: he recorded two superb albums for the Concord label resurrecting the old La Perfecta repertoire. The second of these is titled Ritmo Caliente, and includes the song of the same name that appeared here for the first time. Listening to the two versions recorded four decades apart, you can't help but notice how similar they actually are - a testament to the artistic caliber of this remarkable Eddie Palmieri debut.


Written by Ernesto Lechner
Credits:

Eddie Palmieri – Leader, Piano
George Castro (No Relation) – Flute
Barry Rogers – Trombone
Joao Donato – Trombone
Willie Matos – Trumpet
Joe DeMare – Trumpet
Harold Wegbreit – Trumpet
Dave Tucker – Trumpet
Al DiRisi – Trumpet
Joe Rivera – Bass
Mike Collazo – Percussion
Chickie Pérez – Percussion
Charlie Palmieri – Percussion
Manny Oquendo – Percussion
George Maysonet – Percussion

Vocals - Ismael Quintana
Chorus - Chivirico Dávila, Willie Torres, Víctor Velázquez


Producer - Al Santiago

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