palmieri

Eddie Palmieri’s Harlem River Drive Live Review | Richard Rodgers Amphitheater in Marcus Garvey Park, NYC | May 21, 2016

by • June 21, 2016

Eddie Palmieri’s Harlem River Drive stands out among the crop of retrospectively-labelled “rare groove” artists — obscure bands, usually from the early to mid 70’s, and usually having an R&B/funk inclination (cf. Cymande, Mandrill, The Incredible Bongo Band, Magnum) — who are revered (and sampled by hip-hop producers) for their incredible playing and gritty, organic sound. The Afro-Cuban/R&B fusion played by Harlem River Drive had all these qualities, but with top-notch songwriting and arrangements. Their one-off studio album benefitted from a stellar and disparate cast of musicians such as drummer Bernard Purdie, guitarist Cornell Dupree, vocalist/lyricist Jimmy Norman, trumpeter Randy Brecker, and organist Charlie Palmieri. In a sense, the band represent the logical conclusion of ‘60s boogaloo music (a New York-centered fusion of R&B and salsa), in that they are a summit of great players of each style who created a seamless and ambitious fusion of the two genres.

For their reunion show, Palmieri’s impressive band included five horns, four percussionists, three keyboards (counting Palmieri), several singers, two guitarists, and a bassist. They played loudly and forcefully. The horns were in bright unison; the percussion was steady and polyrhythmic, and the whole band was anchored by Eddie’s piano montunos. Bernard Purdie sat in on drums for some of the album tracks, which made up about half of the set. These songs were rearranged to great effect with the full band in mind. For instance, their rendition of the title song made room for a spoken word section from vocalist Flaco Navaja  — in addition to the original vocal part (sung by Solomon Hicks). The other half consisted of some of Eddie’s classic salsa tunes (including “Azucar Pa’Ti”) and a few of his newer soul/salsa compositions, which fit in perfectly.

My favorite moment of the whole show may have been Eddie’s improvised duet with the bassist. This piece showed the range of his knowledge and ability, from dense jazzy chords to fast, articulate scale passages.

Some of the crowd — which ranged from children to older people who were clearly lifelong salsa fans, danced in front of the stage — made for a palpably energetic show. The band members also ranged in age, from young singer/guitarist Solomon Hicks to legends like Palmieri and Purdie. As a result, the music felt fresh and lively, as relevant as ever. The show proved to me that both salsa and R&B will always persist as live music that feeds on and responds to the audience’s energy, and will be passed down for generations to come.

The two African-rooted genres’ rhythms coming together is perfectly emblematic of the history of Harlem: the neighborhood that Palmieri grew up in, that gave this band its name, and that hosted this show. Eddie intuited that connection in 1971 with great artistic (if not commercial) rewards and his innovations still resonate today. Appropriately enough, it was announced during the show that Mayor DiBlasio had officially proclaimed Saturday, May 21, 2016 “Eddie Palmieri Day.” Along with word of a second Harlem River Drive studio album, it seems like the world has finally caught up with Eddie Palmieri’s vision.

Eddie Palmieri’s Harlem River Drive Live Review by Philip Sangenario, edited by Matthew Weller.

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