Tribute to Eddie Palmieri & La Perfecta

To celebrate the legacy of the late pianist and composer Eddie Palmieri during the week that would have marked his 90th birthday, pianist and SFJAZZ Director of Education Rebeca Mauleón leads a truly all-star Latin jazz orchestra with special guest saxophonist David Sánchez as well as members of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Latin Jazz Ensemble. 

A Nuyorican innovator of salsa, Palmieri and his band La Perfecta brought the boogaloo to the Latin jazz sound in the 1960s and infused the modern jazz approach into the music over the course of his monumental career.  

Mauleón considers Palmieri her “gateway” to serious Latin music and the Cuban icons that guided her own stellar trajectory. For this night, she honors his pioneering body of work and the major developments of the prime eras of his creative life with an ensemble of the greatest names on the local scene including flutist Chloe Scott Jones, saxophonist Melecio Magdaluyo, and Santana percussionist Karl Perazzo along with SFJAZZ Collective saxophonist Sánchez. An artist discovered by Palmieri while still living in Puerto Rico, Sánchez contributed to the maestro’s GRAMMY-winning 2005 Concord Picante release Listen Here! And his KUVO radio series Calienté! with Eddie Palmieri.