Eddie Palmieri - "Unfinished Masterpiece" (1975)

Bacoso's been posting some great Eddie Palmieri over at OIR which has encouraged me to drag out my latin albums again .... Eddie's a genius and a revolutionary giant. Latin had never seen harmonies like this before - Palmieri pushed at both the latin boundaries and the jazz boundaries at the same time without letting them wash each other out.

Palmieri's great early 70s albums like "Superimposition" and "Justicia" began to mix up genres in a way that reflected the cultural gumbo of New York itself. He began to really stretch his own boundaries in the studio with 'The Sun Of Latin Music" in 1974, particularly with the sprawling 15 minute "Un Dia Bonito", which begins with atmospheric textures and dramatic pacing, then works through an extraordinary, almost classical cross-harmonic brass buildup before morphing into a latin stormer. (I've added this as a bonus track in the comments). The album netted him his first Grammy award, which was in fact the first-ever Latin Grammy.

In 1973 he released "Sentido", which in tracks like "Condiciones que Existen" began to incorporate the funk textures from the album by his "Harlem River Drive" project, once again a distinctly New York cultural stew that can also be heard on the live "Sing Sing" albums from 1971, and influences other live recordings like the "University Of Puerto Rico" album.


Less funk and more cuban textures in this album from 1975, but it's still from the period when Palmieri had most of his considerable irons in the fire at the same time, moments of descarga - listen to everyone go crazy in the 12-minute standout track "Cobarde"; piano atmospherics and experimentation in "Random Thoughts"; percussion to die for in "Oyelo Que Te Conviene".



There's the salsa of "Un Puesto Vacante" with Lalo Rodriguez tearing up on the vocals, some boogaloo strains in "Kinkamache", and finally jazz and even big band textures in "Resemblance". That last track has quite a different lineup of jazzers including Ron Carter, Jeremy Steig, Steve Gadd, and Eddie Martinez on the rhodes.

And all the way through there's Eddie himself, always unexpected and exploratory in his piano progressions, and writing incendiary brass parts like no-one else can. He was apparently never fully satisfied with getting this album finished, but Coco Records put it out anyway - thus the title. He won his second Grammy award with this one.

WAV and 320 MP3 versions of "Unfinished Masterpiece" are at the bottom of the post, also a bonus of the aforementioned track "Un Dia Bonita" from "The Sun Of Latin Music".

Also check out the discography below for 53 more Eddie Palmieri-related albums.

Finally here's more latin from this blog.

TRACKLIST
01 'Un Puesto Vacante' (3:48)
02 'Kinkamache' (5:40)
03 'Oyelo Que Te Conviene' (6:29)
04 'Cobarde' (10:46)
05 'Random Thoughts' (6:22)
06 'Resemblance' (4:49)

All tracks by Eddie Palmieri

MUSICIANS
Eddie Palmieri - piano and leader
Lalo Rodriguez - lead vocal
Victor Paz - trumpets
Barry Rogers - trombones and tenor tuba
Nicky Marrero - timbales & percussion
Tommy "Chuckie" Lopez Jr - bongo
Eladio Perez - conga
Jerry Gonzalez - conga on "Cobarde"
Polito Huerta, Eddie "Gua-Gua" Rivera, Andy Gonzalez - bass
Ronnie Cuber - baritone sax, soprano sax & flute
Mario Rivera - tenor & baritone Sax
Lou Orenstein - tenor sax
Bobby Porceli & Lou Marini - alto sax
Peter Gordon - french horn
Tony Price - tuba Alfredo de la Fe - violin
Harry Viggiano - electric guitar
Jimmy Sabates, Willie Torres, Ismael Quintana - coro

Guest musicians on "Resemblance" :

Eddie Martinez - electric piano
Jeremy Steig - flute solo
Ron Carter - acoustic bass
Steve Gadd - drums
Mike Lawrence - flugelhorn
Ronnie Cuber - baritone solo
Ed Byrne - trombone
Lynn Welshman - trombone

PRODUCTION and ARRANGEMENTS
Eddie Palmieri - arrangement, theories and structure
Rene Hernandez - arrangements
Barry Rogers - arrangement on "Cobarde"
Eddie Martinez - arrangement on "Resemblance"
Harvey Averne - producer

EDDIE PALMIERI DISCOGRAPHY

1962 "La Perfecta" at Orgy in Rhythm
1963 'El Molestoso' at Zona Musical / info1964 'Lo que traigo es sabroso' at Si Se Rompe Se Compone or alternate1964 'Echando Pa'Lante' (Straight Ahead) at Zona Musical
1965 'Azucar pa' Ti' at Si Se Rompe Se Compone
1965 'Mambo Con Conga Is Mozambique' at La Musica Latina or alternate or FLACS 1967 'Molasses' at Orgy in Rhythm
1968 'Champagne' at Rock Savage
1970 'Justicia' at NakitaMusica
1971 'Live at Sing Sing Vol 1-2' at Rumbarte
1971 'Live at Sing Sing Vol 1' at Orgy in Rhythm
1971 'Vamonos P'al Monte' at Zona Musical / info
1971 'Superimposition' at Orgy in Rhythm
1971 'At the University of Puerto Rico' at Zona musical / info

1973 'Sentido' at Orgy in Rhythm
1974 'The Sun Of Latin Music' at revolucion, no / alternate
1974 'The Sun Of Latin Music' (expanded 2 CD set) at El Principante Salsero
1975 'Unfinished Masterpiece' in comments here
1976 'Eddie's Concerto'
1978 'Lucumi Macumba Voodoo' at Zona Musical
1981 'Eddie Palmieri' at Zona Musical
1981 'Timeless' (live) at Zona Musical / info
1982 'Sueno' at Salsa All Stars or alternate 1984 'Palo Pa Rumba' at DDC or alternate / alternate
1985 'Solito' at Las Cintas Recuperadas
1987 'La Verdad' (The Truth) at Salsa Emsamble or alternate1991 'El Rey de Las Blancas Y Las Negras'
1994 'Palmas' at Zona Musical / info
1995 'Arete' at Zona Musical / info
1995 'Chocolate Ice Cream' at Zona Musical
1996 'Vortex' at Mis Albumes Salseros or alternate
1998 'El Rumbero del Piano' at Zona Musical or alternate
1999 'Live' / info
2002 'La Perfecta II' at Zona Musical / info
2003 'Ritmo Caliente' at Zona Musical / info 2005 "Listen Here" at CB Latin Jazz Corner or alternate
2006 'La Experienca' at Zona Musical / info
MAIN COLLABORATIONS1965-6 'Descargas at The Village Gate Vols. 1-2' - (Tico All-Stars) at Orgy In Rhythm

1966 'Descargas at the Village Gate Vol 3' (Tico All-Stars) at Easy Jams
1966 'El Sonido Nuevo' (with Cal Tjader) at Into The Rhythm or alternate
1967 'Bamboleate' (with Cal Tjader) at Orgy in Rhythm / alternate
1968 'Live at the Red Garter Vol. 1' - Fania All-Stars at Si Se Rompe Se Compone
1968 'Live at the Red Garter Vol. 2' - Fania All-Stars at Si Se Rompe Se Compone
1976 "Harlem River Drive" at My Favourite Sound or alternate
1992 'Llegó la India' (with India) at CB Latin Jazz Corner or alternate
1994 "Fania All-Stars Live in Puerto Rico" at La musica de Nakita
1996 'TropiJazz All-Stars Vol 1' at La Coleccion1997 'TropiJazz All-Stars Vol 2' at La Coleccion
1997 "Nuyorican Soul" at Latin Jazzoteca
2000 'Masterpiece' (Obra Maestra) (with Tito Puente) at Salsa Emsamble or alternate / alternate 2005 'The Very Best of Tropijazz' at La Coleccion
2006 'Simpatico' (with Brian Lynch) at Zona Musical

COMPILATIONS
1975 "The History Of Eddie Palmieri" at bermudezyezid musica y mas1975 'Lo Mejor de Eddie" (The Best of) (Tico) at Zona Musical
1976 'Gold' ('73-'76 material) at Zona musical
1977 'The Music Man' (El Hombre Musica) at Zona Musical1993 'Salsa Meets Jazz' at Latin Jazzoteca / alternate
1999 'The Best of Eddie Palmieri' (2 CD set) at Notas Agudas
2007 'El Prodigioso - Los 50 Años Del Maestro' at Latin Jazzoteca / alternate
VIDEO
2003 'The Latin Giants Of Jazz in San Sebastian' at Latin Jazzoteca

EDDIE'S WEBSITE
here

"Unfinished Masterpiece"  WAV - MP3

Bonus track : "Un Dia Bonita" WAV