Eddie Palmieri, a Grammy-winning pianist and bandleader who helped define Latin jazz, has died. He was 88.
The famed musician died Wednesday, Aug. 6, according to Fania Records, a label responsible for several of his hit albums.
"Today, Fania Records mourns the loss of the legendary Eddie Palmieri, one of the most innovative and unique artists in music history," the company wrote in a statement.
The musician's youngest daughter, Gabriela Palmieri, told The New York Times her father had died following an "extended illness."
A musical multihyphenate, Palmieri was both a pianist himself and a mastermind outside the orchestra, composing, directing, arranging and producing. Reared in Spanish Harlem, New York, he soaked up the sounds of jazz in the city and took after a musical family, playing drums in his uncle's orchestra.
