When two-time award-winning Latin jazz performers take the stage in Baltimore this weekend, one show is simply not enough. Especially if the artists are legendary pianist and band leader, Eddie Palmieri along with trumpeter, Brian Lynch.
For this reason, Henry Wong, owner of An Die Musik on North Charles Street, has booked four performances, two each on Friday and Saturday nights.
The venue is intimate, a small room with overstuffed, easy chairs in place of seats. Palmieri and Lynch will work as a well-tuned duo on original compositions from each of their songbooks.
“Palmieri [on piano] has a whole rhythm section in his left hand alone,” said Lynch, who considers the jazz artist one of his mentors. “What the exact program will be is hard to say ahead of time, but each show will be different.”
Palmieri?s musical career spans 50 years as a band leader of salsa and Latin jazz orchestras. With more than 32 albums to his credit, he is the recipient of eight Grammy awards, including the first-ever winner in the Best Latin Album category for his 1975 release, “The Sun of Latin Music.” His most recent Grammy was awarded last February for his release “Listen Here.”
For Palmieri, it is the rhythmic patterns of Cuban music, coupled with a solid interpretation of Afro-Caribbean forms, that produces a “cross-cultural effect that makes magnificent music.”
Brian Lynch agrees. For more than 20 years, both as player and composer, he has been a prominent voice in jazz and Afro-Caribbean music. His recent collaboration with Palmieri, titled “Simpático,” has received a 4.5-star review in December?s issue of Downbeat magazine. The recording, he says is “the culmination of everything I?ve learned with Eddie and what that music represents.” Pieces from “Simpático” will be featured in the Baltimore performances, he added.
“We have very loyal Palmieri fans,” said Henry Jones. “The concerts will be a refreshing gift to the community.”
IF YOU GO
Palmieri and Lynch
» Venue: An die Musik LIVE!, 409 N. Charles St., Baltimore; 410-385-2638
» Times: 8 and 10 p.m. Friday and 8 and 10 p.m. Saturday
» Admission: $30 general admission, $25 for students and seniors
