Time breeds familiarity, and time spent together on stage brings jazz musicians into a higher level of performance. As musicians spend extensive time performing together, they anticipate each other’s musical choices. The interaction becomes conversationalist in nature, relying upon an almost telepathic communication between performers. The end result becomes less about the music and more about the people. As a result, the audience also receives rare looks into a musician’s inner being, as they expose their thoughts and feelings among friends. Watching a group of jazz musicians that have spent numerous years together always breeds engaging excitement.

On Monday, I revisited a Latin Jazz classic, the 1994 Eddie Palmieri album Palmas; let’s move forward 13 years now and see some of those same musicians performing together. In particular, trumpet player Bryan Lynch and trombonist Conrad Herwig have maintained a closer relationship with Palmieri. They’ve stayed involved in his Salsa projects as well as his Latin Jazz recordings. Palmieri has returned the favor and appeared on their records. Both these musicians are leaders in their own right, with several albums under their names. Yet, they value the importance of musical longevity and respect the work with Palmieri. Resultantly, the musical exchange between the three musicians has grown into an engaging Latin Jazz style.

These videos come from two different sources. The first two clips were recorded live at a 2006 performance in Spain. The video is a bit shaky, but listen to the musical development between Lynch, Herwig, and Palmieri - it’s classic Latin Jazz. The last video reveals a recording session from the Brian Lynch/Eddie Palmieri recording Simpatico. These musicians bring an exciting vibe to the music almost effortlessly; they show complete mastery. The years have worn well on the musical peers . . . let’s hope for many more collaborative years and high class Latin Jazz!

The Palmieri Effect

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