The world has long admired the Spanish Harlem born, seven-time GRAMMY Award winning Palmieri as one of the foremost Latin pianists of the last half-century. His ability to fuse the rhythms of his

Hispanic heritage with the jazz influences of Thelonius Monk and McCoy Tyner made him an immediate hit when he played New York's Palladium Ballroom in the '50s and '60s. He has continued to roll on with stylistic innovations over the years, creating classic Tico albums and later mixing salsa with R&B, pop, rock, Spanish vocals and more jazz improvisation. Now that Tito Puente is gone, the 66 year-old accepts the passing of the baton and is happy to consider himself a Latin jazz ambassador to the world.

His new exuberant album is, Ritmo Caliente (CCD-2180-2) Coming June 10, 2003 is best yet. Keeping the torch aflame and swinging as he continues to wow fans around the world, Palmieri, along with his sizzling cohorts, shows that Ritmo Caliente surpasses the great recording "La Perfecta" and "La Perfecta II" with deeper excursions into multiple Latin forms, ingeniously and creatively recapturing Palmieri's early love for classical music.