Eddie Palmieri’s Salsa Orchestra — LEAF Festival, 2018

Filmed live concert by the Eddie Palmieri’s Salsa Orchestra at the LEAF Festival in Black Mountain, North Carolina, USA, in the fall of 2018, produced by Independent Arts and Music of Asheville. A New York pianist and bandleader of Puerto Rican descent, Eddie Palmieri is a legend of salsa and Latin jazz, a multiple Grammy winner. A pioneer of a bold style blending incandescent montunos, jazz harmonies and explosive arrangements, he revolutionized Afro-Caribbean music from the 1960s onward with groups such as La Perfecta. On stage, leading his salsa orchestra, the maestro unleashes an infectious energy: percussive piano, horn dialogues, a blazing rhythm section and feverish improvisations. This live capture restores the power of a Latin big band in full festival flow, between salsa dura tradition and jazz freedom. Having passed away in 2025, Eddie Palmieri leaves an immense mark on Latin music. A full concert ideal for gauging, in 2018, the stage intensity of one of the greatest masters of salsa and Latin jazz, filmed in the convivial setting of LEAF.