[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 79 (Friday, June 3, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1052]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   IN RECOGNITION OF EDDIE PALMIERI, THE DC JAZZ FESTIVAL'S LIFETIME 
 ACHIEVEMENT AWARD RECIPIENT AND FOR HIS CONTRIBUTIONS TO AMERICAN JAZZ

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                          HON. XAVIER BECERRA

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                          Friday, June 3, 2011

  Mr. BECERRA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate a 
distinguished American, Mr. Eddie Palmieri, the recipient of this 
year's District of Columbia's Jazz Festival's Lifetime Achievement 
Award. Mr. Palmieri, renowned for his unique fusion of Jazz and Latin 
rhythms, has blazed many trails in his remarkable career. ``El Rumbero 
del Piano,'' a title which reflects his magic on the piano, has earned 
his place among the great ones for his dedication to Jazz and the 
cultivation of its creative soul.
  Having grown up in Spanish Harlem to Puerto Rican parents, Latin 
beats were a part of Eddie Palmieri's life from an early age. He began 
his lifelong passion for creating music at the tender age of eight. By 
age thirteen, Eddie had joined his uncle's orchestra playing the 
timbales. From his early exposure to the music instruments of the South 
Bronx, was borne the beautiful medley of Jazz and Latin music that is 
now firmly weaved into American life.
  A musical trailblazer, Eddie Palmieri received the first of what 
would be numerous Grammys in 1975 for the recording ``The Sun of Latin 
Music''--marking the very first time in the history of the Grammys that 
the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences recognized Latin 
music. In 1988, the Smithsonian Institution recorded two of Mr. 
Palmieri's energetic performances for the catalog of the National 
Museum of American History in Washington, DC. In a sign of changing 
times, in 1993, he was appointed to the Board of Governors of the New 
York chapter of National Association of Recording Arts and Sciences.
  Twenty years after placing Latin music on the Grammys map, Eddie once 
again chartered new territory, opening the door for the new category of 
Latin Jazz. More recently, in 2009, his widely popular composition 
``Azucar Pa' Ti'' was inducted into the National Recording Registry of 
the United States Library of Congress as a significant and compelling 
American sound recording. Mr. Palmieri shares this honor of induction 
into the National Recording Registry with other titans of American 
music like The Band, Willie Nelson, Loretta Lynn, The Staple Singers, 
Patti Smith, Cliff Edwards, Little Richard and R.E.M.
  A nine-time Grammy Award winner with a musical career spanning more 
than 50 years and 36 recordings, Mr. Eddie Palmieri is an inspirational 
pianist, composer, arranger, and a celebrated leader of Salsa and Latin 
Jazz orchestras. For his numerous contributions to the American musical 
landscape, but more for his brilliant work in introducing the world to 
the rhythms of Latin Jazz, I ask that the House of Representatives 
honor and commend El Rumbero del Piano for a lifetime of achievement.

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