In the beginning...Al danced...

Submitted by Al Kanovsky 3/10/13

In the beginning there was a Garden and then there was a guy, Adam, and then there was a girl, Eve. Then Adam wanted to dance with Eve, but there was no music. So then came Cachao playing bass. He brought some guys playing Congas, Bongos and Timbales. That was okay but Eve wanted melody. You know how girls are!! So they had horns and a piano to join in. Cachao made them play mambo. Adam taught Eve (or vice-versa) to shake her booty. Then other folks wanted to do dance also. So, they built the Palladium Ballroom in New York and all the Jewish kids from Brooklyn and the Bronx came to dance. Tito Puente, Machito and Tito Rodriguez were on the bandstand. Eddie and Charlie Palmieri along with Dizzy moved the mambo into the JAZZ genre. That ends Bible study. Now we will talk about the history that is being made. Eddie Palmieri along with bongo, conga, timbale, bass, trumpet and saxophone players taught that lesson from the stage of the South Miami-DadeCultural Arts Center.

 In 1948 my soul (mi alma) was captured by a new rhythm in Latin music. My older siblings had danced to Xavier Cugat's music. The rumba, bolero, tango. It was time for a fresh, exciting dance step. Dizzy, the first to use congas in a JAZZ orchestra, had Chano Pozo. The recordings "Cubano Be-Cubano-Bop" by Dizzy and Chano, along with Stan Kenton's "Peanut Vendor" brought attention to what would become known as Latin JAZZ. The Latin dance bands of the era, Tito Puente, Tito Rodrigue and Machito, played Mambo and then Cha-Cha-Cha at the Palladium Ballroom on Broadway and 53d in New York. The Palldium was right around the corner from the JAZZ clubs of 52d Street and so, like me, music lovers and the dance crazed drifted between venues. Eddie and Charlie Palmieri were early band leaders who pioneered the transformation from dance to JAZZ. Last night Eddie Palmieri brought that "JAZZ clave" to the South Miami Dade Cultural Center. The concert was sold-out as well it should have been. 

Sr. Palmieri is a virtuoso pianist as well as composer and arranger. He also is a visionary, musically. He is unafraid of new chord structures and sounds. A song that he had written for his older daughter, had tinges of bolero rhythm while the melodic line tasted heavily of the BLUES. Eddie is also a purveyor of talent. Joining him on stage were trumpeter Jonathan Powell, Alto Saxophonist Louis Fuche, Luques Curtis on bass, maestro congero Little Johnny Rivero, long time band member Jose Gaussey on Timbales and my sincere apologies to the bongero, whose name I didn't get.  Brilliant solos by each and every member of the band brought raucous response from the audience. At the conclusion of the concert, the audience, rose as one in thunderous applause. The stood that way calling for "autre"  one more. Sadly the band was exhausted from this masterful performance and did not respond. The listeners understood. I had a moment with Louis Fuche(accent arrive on the e). He has just turned 28 and is an MIT graduate. He forsook engineering for a career in music. I don't know if it was wise choice but it will certainly be good for his alma. He has the talent for a brilliant future.

If you have never been to the SMDCAC, you must go. The structure itself is a concert in modern architecture. There are 2 performance venues, the large symphonic hall and a smaller(100) intimate club like room known as the "black box". The staff is totally professional and at your service. My thanks to each and everyone for the service provided to the community as a whole and to me as an individual.

 

 ~ ~ ~

Posted by Jazz & Blues Florida 

Please visit http://www.jazzbluesflorida.com/ to sign up to have 

Florida's jazz & blues news delivered to your inbox.

Or, just email me at Charlie@JazzBluesFlorida.com

And, if you like what you see here, HIT THAT FACEBOOK SHARE BUTTON below!

Thanks!