photo by Sylvia Pfieffenberger
Last Friday was a great night for the Latin music community in North Carolina. As part of the Carolina Jazz Festival, Eddie Palmieri was in town with an all-star octet for a show at UNC. Earlier in the day, Eddie conducted an intimate workshop with Charanga Carolina, from which many players have graduated into the ranks of Orquesta GarDel. Many GarDel members were there to perform for this iconic bandleader and Latin jazz innovator. At one point Eddie was so heartened by the sounds we were making that he called his wife and held the phone up to the band.
After the main concert of the evening, we all headed over to Talulla’s where Al Strong (2nd trumpet in GarDel) leads a killin’ jazz jam session every Friday. Most of Eddie’s band came out to hang, and they were ready to play. Between the UNC jazz cats, Al’s band, the GarDel cats, and a throng of salsa dancers, the fuse was lit for a Latin explosion. And it happened.
We played a really fun set of GarDel originals and covers with Palmieri guests sitting in on every song. It turns out that Julio Correa (bongocero for GarDel) went to high school with Little Johnny Rivero, so they got to reminisce. We learned that phenom bassist Luques Curtis of the Curtis Brothers band is also using Kickstarter to fund an album, so we hope you’ll support it. It was a special treat to have the esteemed Brian Lynch (whose Simpático with Eddie Palmieri won a Latin Jazz Grammy in 2007), and Louis Fouché take solos on our own songs Gracias Te Doy and Lo Que Tú Querías. Orlando Vega was also there to close out the night with a blazing version of “Indestructible.”
We’ll close out the post to give you our favorite audio from this night. Great GarDel collab with guests on the classic Sonora Ponceña “Boranda.” Enjoy!
Boranda LIVE @ Talulla’s ft. “Pequeño” Johnny Rivero & Louis Fouche by orquestagardel
Nice piano solo, Eric! I remember this moment in the evening well as I was dancing at the time. I am digging these live audio saves…