Charlie Palmieri: The Giant of the Keyboards

When the pachanga and charanga craze swept New York, one pianist sat at its center: Charlie Palmieri, the "Giant of the Keyboards."^[1]

A Bronx prodigy

Carlos Manuel Palmieri was born on 21 November 1927 in the South Bronx to parents from Ponce, Puerto Rico, and — a child prodigy — studied at the Juilliard School before making his professional debut at sixteen.^[1] The older brother of pianist Eddie Palmieri, Charlie became one of the most respected musical directors in Latin music.^[1]

Charanga Duboney

In 1959 Palmieri joined forces with the Dominican flutist Johnny Pacheco, whose flute, woven through Palmieri's violins, helped touch off the charanga craze in the United States and the pachanga dance fad that rode alongside it.^[1] When that wave receded, Palmieri retooled — swapping flute and strings for trumpets and trombones and renaming the group simply La Duboney — moving with the times into the boogaloo era.^[1]

Why it matters

Alongside bandleaders like José Fajardo and Joe Quijano, Charlie Palmieri helped make the charanga sound a New York sensation in the pachanga years.^[2] Later the musical director for Tito Puente's television show and a respected educator, he remained a pillar of Latin music until his death in 1988.^[1]