Latin Jazz Hero Eddie Palmieri Honored With Street Naming

Hundreds of passionate Puerto Ricans, Harlemites, Latin Jazz lovers and myriad others with love and rhythm in their souls turned out to the southeast corner of East 112th Street and Park Avenue on July 8 to celebrate the street naming of Eddie Palmieri Way.

An 11-time Grammy winner and a 2013 NEA Jazz Master, the brilliant pianist, composer and bandleader died in Hackensack, NJ, last August at the age of 88. “He was a mentor, a teacher, and a tireless advocate for Latin music and culture,” his family wrote on Instagram. “He inspired generations of musicians and moved countless listeners with his artistry, conviction and unmistakable sound.”

“Known for his thunderous, percussive piano style and bold, genre-defying compositions, he was a fearless innovator who honored his Afro-Caribbean roots while pushing musical boundaries.”

Though his corporeal being couldn’t attend his unveiling on this corner of El Barrio, the importance and passion of the occasion was one Palmieri knew well, as he’d been present at the June 20, 2014 unveiling of Charlie Palmieri Way.

Nicknamed “El Gigante De Las Blancas y Las Negras,” Charlie, who was born in 1927 and died in 1988, was Eddie’s older brother by eight years. Though the family moved from East Harlem to Kelly Street in the South Bronx, as first Charlie, then Eddie, made their marks in music, they became both revered musicians and cultural heroes. in the heavily Puerto Rican areas like East Harlem, the Hispanic Lower East Side (later called “Loisaida”), the South Bronx, South Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and more.

Their popularity wasn’t confined to “ghetto” or “slum” areas either. Working with older bandleaders and Afro-Caribbean musicians like Tito Puente, Machito and Candido, the Palmieris were part of the popular music—the popular entertainment—fabric of the city. In the mid-1950s and 1960s, people were crazy for Latin music, including in “sophisticated” Manhattan. A random July 1964 New York Post ad shows Charlie Palmieri playing with Tito Puente at the Palladium at Broadway and W. 53rd Street, and leading his own orchestra at Basin Street East, at 137 E. 48th St. That October, Eddie “& His Entire Fabulous Latin Orchestra” was the headliner for a “cocktail dansant” at the Statler Hilton Hotel at Seventh Avenue and West 33rd Street one night and playing at Le Flamboyan in Woodside, Queens, another.

Gifted as they were, these were working men, playing for working people and all others, including those who attended the innumerable Jewish dances Latin jazz musicians performed at. In a sense, that’s a story of the era: abuela and bubbe both loved to cha-cha! Eras pass, however, and because few Latin jazz or salsa musicians got rich off their music, they remained close to their people.

Charlie Palmieri Way is on the northwest corner of East 112th Street and Park Avenue.

Eddie Palmieri Way is on the same intersection’s southeast corner, adjacent Mosaic Preparatory Academy elementary school (formerly PS 101) playground and across the street from the NYCHA Johnson houses projects—that’s James Weldon Johnson (1871-1938), the writer, diplomat and civil rights activist who authored the lyrics of “Lift Every Voice of Sing.” Given the Palmieris’ devotion to community improvement, having such neighbors is apt.

Besides his fans, former band members and family members present for the ceremony were City Council Member Elsie Encarnacion, former Council Member Diana Ayala, and State Senator Cordell Cleare.

“This is so important,” Cleare exhorted. “There is no New York City history without Puerto Rican history and today we are celebrating one of the greatest who ever did. He was more than an entertainer. He was an activist, he was a leader, he cared about community, and he carried those issues with him. He never, ever forgot where he came from.”