As he has for three of the past four years, Palmieri has celebrated his birthday week (he turned 73 on December 15) at An Die Musik with a big white cake. This year he brought along his longtime trumpeter Brian Lynch and his relatively new bassist Luques Curtis. A nine-time Grammy winner who's a major figure in the worlds of salsa and Latin jazz, Palmieri usually leads a 7-13-piece band that includes multiple horns and multiple percussionists. Grinning from the piano bench from behind his glasses, dark blazer, and gray beard, he appeared to relish the chance to work in such an intimate, chamber-jazz setting.
He began the evening with a long, unaccompanied piano intro before nodding for Lynch and Curtis to join him on "Adoracion," a spirited number that climaxed with Palmieri scatting vocals over his own piano solo. On "Tema para Renee," a tribute to his daughter, Palmieri took advantage of the trio format to add an extra tenderness to the ballad melody, allowing the notes to sink into the surrounding open spaces. But he didn't neglect the dance rhythms that have always underpinned him music. On the Tito Puente composition, "Picadillo," Palmieri clapped out the 3/2 rhythm and encouraged the sold-out crowd to clap along, thus becoming the missing percussion section.
The show was nearly stolen, however, by Lynch, nattily dressed in a black porkpie hat and a purple velvet jacket. It took him a song and a half to get warmed up, but once he locked in, he was dazzling. He followed the example of his leader of 22 years by pursuing an austere minimalism. He would lay out for many measures at a time, and when he came in, he would surround his phrases with silence. But those phrases were as eloquent as they were elegant, especially when he traded in his trumpet for the mellower, lower-pitched flugelhorn on the ballad "Palo Pa Rumba" and the dance tune "Comparsa." Lynch's pauses only heightened the drama of his sudden leaps from a low register to a high octave, from squealing desire to murmuring seduction.
The next jazz concert at An Die Musik features the Warren Wolf Quartet, featuring special guest Cyrus Chestnut, Dec. 26. For more information visit andiemusicklive
Trackback: Baltimore City Paper
