Once upon a time, in a dance hall called the Palladium, in a city called New York, jazz bands vied with each other in all-night contests to see who could play the hottest, fastest and wildest dance music possible. Among those bands, Eddie Palmieri's La Perfecta was one of the most popular. But, with the closing of dance halls and the slowing of musical exchange with Cuba, Latin jazz took other directions and La Perfecta was disbanded in 1968.
But, rather than fade into obscurity and rest on respectable past accomplishments, Palmieri remained active. Adapting the mambo, salsa and charanga rhythms with increasingly forward-leaning jazz sensibilities, he pulled in many of the best New York jazz players to jam with his handpicked percussion section.
Many of the recorded results have been tragically lost due to the vagaries of record company contracts. And perhaps neither the jazz nor Latin music world was quite ready for his blend of McCoy Tyner and Herbie Hancock piano with Latin rhythms. Fortunately, though, many of his recent works are still in print. 1994's "Palmas," 1995's "Arete" and 1999's "Live" are easy to find and capture the fire and brilliance of his Latin jazz conception.