Eddie Palmieri, the pioneering Latin jazz pianist and composer who helped create the foundations of salsa music, died Wednesday at his home in Hackensack, New Jersey, following an extended illness. He was 88 years old.
Palmieri’s youngest daughter, Gabriela, confirmed his death to The New York Times, stating that her father had been suffering from health issues for an extended period. The Grammy-winning musician passed away on August 6, 2025, according to multiple reports.
Born Eduardo Palmieri on December 15, 1936, in New York’s Spanish Harlem to Puerto Rican parents who had emigrated from Ponce in 1926, Palmieri grew up in the South Bronx with music as a central part of his upbringing. His mother Isabel worked as a seamstress while his father Carlos was an electrician, both emphasizing the importance of music in their children’s development.
Palmieri initially learned piano at an early age but became fascinated with percussion after joining his uncle’s orchestra at age 13, where he played timbales. However, he eventually returned to piano, describing himself as “a frustrated percussionist” who would “take it out on the piano.”
His professional career began in the early 1950s with various bands, including Eddie Forrester’s group, Johnny Segui’s orchestra, and the popular Tito Rodriguez Orchestra. Palmieri’s older brother Charlie, also a pioneering pianist, helped pave the way for his younger sibling’s musical journey.
In 1961, Palmieri formed his groundbreaking eight-piece band La Perfecta, which revolutionized Latin music by replacing traditional trumpets with trombones. This innovative approach mixed American jazz with Afro-Caribbean rhythms, creating a unique sound that surprised both critics and fans while helping steer the mambo scene toward the more complex rhythms that would become known as salsa.
Palmieri’s musical evolution continued with his monumental 1969 album “Justicia,” which combined elements of funk, soul, and psychedelic rock with Cuban dance rhythms and lyrics addressing racism and colonialism. Despite his instrumental role in creating salsa, Palmieri remained uncomfortable with the term, preferring to describe his music as “Afro-Cuban” and viewing it as part of a continuum mixing African rhythms with expanding diasporic influences.
In 1975, Palmieri made history by becoming the first Latino to win a Grammy Award, taking home the inaugural Best Latin Recording award for his album “Sun of Latin Music.” He would go on to win seven additional Grammy Awards over his career, including the following year’s Best Latin Recording for “Unfinished Masterpiece.”
Throughout his career spanning nearly 40 albums, Palmieri successfully campaigned for the creation of the Best Latin Jazz Album category in 1995 and fought to reinstate it after its deletion in 2012. His final solo studio album, “Listen Here!,” won the category’s 2006 award, and he continued releasing collaborative records and touring well into his eighties.
Palmieri’s business dealings were as fiery as his music, earning him the nickname “the Madman of Salsa” for his confrontations with record executives and industry figures. He also engaged in a notable battle with the Internal Revenue Service, refusing to pay taxes for several years after becoming influenced by economist Henry George’s theories about income taxation. IRS agents eventually arrested him at concerts, though he later worked out a repayment agreement.
In the 1980s, Palmieri temporarily relocated to Puerto Rico to care for his mother, recording three Grammy-winning albums during that period. However, he found the experience difficult, later revealing that local musicians would not accept him and that finding employment proved challenging.
After returning to New York in the late 1980s, Palmieri’s career continued to flourish. He became a regular at the legendary Monday night performances at New York’s Village Gate club and maintained his status as a working-class insurgent in the music industry while gaining establishment recognition.
In 2013, both the National Endowment for the Arts named him a Jazz Master and the Latin Grammys presented him with a Lifetime Achievement Award. The Library of Congress and the Smithsonian also honored him by recording two of his live performances for their archives.
Palmieri had lived in his Hackensack home since 2015, purchasing the four-bedroom property for $338,000 one year after his wife Iraida died following 58 years of marriage. The property featured a music room and large deck for entertaining.