UNIVERSITY PARK— A veteran of the New York Latin music scene and leader of an intergenerational Afro-Cuban sound will continue his 60-year-plus legacy by leading a performance of his Eddie Palmieri Salsa Orchestra.

Penn State ensemble Centre Dimensions will open the performance by the Latin jazz legend at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 23, in Eisenhower Auditorium.

Call 814-8863-02055 or visit Eddie Palmieri online for more information and to purchase tickets.

Known as one of the finest pianists of the past 50 years, Palmieri is a ground-breaking bandleader, arranger, and composer of salsa and Latin jazz. His playing skillfully fuses the rhythm of his Puerto Rican heritage with soul, funk and the complexity of his jazz influences: Thelonious Monk, Herbie Hancock and McCoy Tyner.

Palmieri is the first Latin artist to receive the Grammy Award, and in 1988, the Smithsonian Museum of National History recorded two of his performances for its music archives.

In 2013, he was awarded the highest-honor Jazz Master award by the National Endowment of the Arts and a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Latin Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences.

With Palmieri at the helm, “the band is a force of culture, the Afro-Caribbean culture that flowed from Europe and Africa into the Caribbean before making its way to the Latin American communities in New York,” said a reporter for JazzInJapan.com. “That culture keeps creating and recreating its intensely rich musical heritage in ever more vital and affecting music. In the hands of Palmieri and band, the music feels as relevant and intense as it ever has.”

Watch a YouTube video of Palmieri's performance here.

Support for this event is provided by Robert and Sonia Hufnagel Endowment. Accessibility services are supported by
William E. McTurk Endowment for Program Support. A grant from the University Park Fee Board makes student prices possible.

For more information about the season, visit the Center for the Performing Arts online, Facebook and Instagram.