The Grammy-winning NEA Jazz Master has spent the past half century taking the music of the barrio into the concert hall, but success hasn't dulled the Latin pianist's flavor or diminished his drive for live performance. At 77, Palmieri still pounds the keys Monk style with the same percussive fervor that he brought to Tito Rodriguez's band in the '50s or his own trombone-heavy Charanga groups in the '60s and beyond. With ironclad claves and a blistering call-and-response aesthetic, he adheres to one inviolable rule: If it wouldn't cut it on a dance floor (or an Olympic ice rink), don't... More >>>