Eddie Palmieri Live at Chicago's Millennium Park

Eddie Palmieri and his salsa orchestra was in rare form this past week when he appeared in Chicago for a concert at the Pritzker Pavilion at Millennium Park. If you like old school salsa you would have really enjoyed this one as Palmieri thrilled us with tunes dating back to the early days of salsa. Tunes like “Muneca” brought us back to the days when salsa dominated the dance scene. Included in this band was Trombonist/ Band Leader Jimmy Bosch, who thrilled us with his fiery trombone solos. Palmieri, as always, infused his special jazz influence to the Son Montuno giving us an incredible show. Opening the concert was Plena Libre, who was brought in from Puerto Rico and did an outstanding job in teaching everyone the simple “Plena” dance step. The entire audience (non-Latinos included) caught on quickly and danced the plena in the aisles as the band played on. A great time was had by all.   

Flashback to the 70's - El Mirador

Here is a picture someone sent me recently of the house band at El Mirador on North Avenue during the 70's. Menique is the leader. If you remember form a prior post, El Mirador was the exclusive Latin Night Club that featured Tito Puente during that time. Menique and this group took over the house band duties after Puente moved on. How many of these musicians do you recognize? (Hint - some are still around).

Salsa Giants

This week, I had the pleasure of seeing the "Salsa Giants" special that was aired featuring the Sergio George collaboration of salsa stars that played at the Curacao North Jazz Festival. The show was awesome showcasing some of the popular stars that are salsa icons from its past and present. Among them was, Marc Anthony, Cheo Feliciano Oscar DeLeon, Andy Montanez, Nora (Orquesta La Luz), Luis Enrique, Tito Nieves, Willy Chirino, Charlie Zaa, Jose Alberto "El Canario",and Sergio George. I questioned the presence of Charlie Zaa among the salsa artists knowing far well that he is a better fit among the Bachata crowd but in his defense, he did a credible job and is really quite good. Anyway, as the show goes on Sergio George explained the concept behind the project and wanted to feature stars from different countries. As you can see from the names I mentioned some of the countries represented are Puerto Rico, USA (New Yorican Marc Anthony), Puerto Rico, Colombia, Japan, and Cuba among others. The band was very good containing many of the studio musicians that actually recorded many of the tunes. Sergio George is a master at his craft and put it all together quite well. I expect that it will be aired again soon. If not, a Video is available for purchase. I highly recommend it. Be sure to check it out.