Eddie Palmieri: To The Limit

After nearly 40 years as one of Latin music's most innovative forces, pianist Eddie Palmieri could have rested on his well-earned laurels. But three years ago, with the release of his first all-instrumental album, Palmas (Nonesuch), he transformed his band from salsa's most adventurous unit into one of Latin jazz's boldest and most exciting. His latest release, Vortex (TropiJazz), finds him inspiring his band to new heights with new material. His appearance at the Regattabar last weekend found him fronting a largely new octet that shows every indication of continuing his lifelong crusade to push Latin music to its limits.

On Vortex, Palmieri's new tunes are both thematically complex and harmonically sophisticated, but they don't forsake the Afro-Cuban grooves that are the secret of the music's unique power. The bluesy "Vanilla Extract," a variation on the old "Chocolate Ice Cream," hits a hypnotic mid-tempo groove calculated to inspire both soloists and dancers. "Displacement," a Latinized jazz-funk number reminiscent of Miles Davis's "In a Silent Way," offers Palmieri the chance to return to his explorations of spacy textures and sounds in his synthesizer introduction. The good-humored "Minuet in G" recasts Beethoven's work as a danzón, in an arrangement that uses all the voices in the ensemble to maximum effect. Palmieri's dissonant treble montuno on this track seems to lift the soloists physically higher. "Whirlwind" bristles with angular melodies played over the surging percussion of José Claussell's timbales, Richie Flores's congas, and Paoli Meijias's bongos -- all virtuosos with flashy technique who get down to basics when a serious groove is called for.

Palmieri's horn section -- trumpeter Brian Lynch, saxophonist Donald Harrison, and trombonist Conrad Herwig -- not only respect and understand the variety and complexity of Afro-Cuban rhythms, they sport impeccable jazz credentials as well. On "Vanilla Extract," Lynch keeps establishing new relationships to the rhythm, ending phrases at irregular intervals to create tension, then digging deep into the percussive flux with notes placed as carefully as a palm slap on a drum skin. On "The Prez," Harrison's tart blues sonority drenches snaking bop lines, staccato riffs, and vocalizing wails. Herwig's rich, glowing tone combines vocal expressiveness with the weight of his instrument's sound. On "Vanilla Extract" he extends and varies his ideas over the whole length of his solo for a tightly knit, soulful statement. (Herwig's The Latin Side of John Coltrane on Astor Place ranks among the best jazz tribute albums of recent years and is an instant Latin-jazz classic.)

During the first set Saturday night at the Regattabar, Palmieri's new band didn't sound as tight as the one on the album. Still, they hit heights that only a Palmieri band can reach. Trombonist Herwig is the one horn remaining from the recording, and he is by far the strongest soloist. On "Bolero Dos," he began with a sly quote of "My One and Only Love" and climaxed with a feverishly repeated riff that had the audience cheering. Although competent and at times exciting, neither saxophonist Phil Vieux nor trumpeter Tony Lujan was as distinctive as Herwig. Unfortunately, much of the interplay between Claussell and Meijias (also album holdovers) was lost in the mix during ensembles, but their graceful, athletic duet on the set-ending "La Libertad/Comparsa" was a highlight. Palmieri was marvelous throughout; his solo introductions were focused and risk-taking, and the most complex, swinging montunos flowed from his fingers with the naturalness and power of water over Niagara. His new band might be working out some kinks, but clearly Palmieri is still on the move.

-- Ed Hazell