Eddie Palmieri: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert

August 19, 2016 by SURAYA MOHAMED Different Tiny Desk performers pop up in NPR Music s workspace just about every week, and frequently more often than that. While every artist is special, it s rare to have a true legend come through. Eddie Palmieri is that onceinalifetime musician, bandleader, composer and arranger. An icon for both modern and Latin jazz, he continues to break tradition and innovate within many musical styles, including salsa, fusion, Latin funk and more. His parents were born in Puerto Rico and later moved to New York City; Eddie Palmieri was born in Spanish Harlem and grew up in the Bronx with a large family that nurtured his musical talent. He studied classical piano when he was young and gave a piano recital at Carnegie Hall when he was just 11. But all he wanted to do at that time was play the drums. When he was 13, he joined his uncle s orchestra to play timbales. He later gave up the drums and started playing piano in the early 1950s in various Latin dance bands, working with Ed