The pianist, composer and bandleader was the first Latino to win a Grammy and would win seven more over a career that spanned nearly 40 albums

He roped salsa into conversation with jazz, rock, funk and even modern classical music. “A new world music,” one critic said, “is being born.”

A native son of the Bronx, Palmieri was a crucial innovator in New York’s Afro-Caribbean music history. The pianist, composer and bandleader has died at 88.