The Puerto Rican New Yorker pianist, who has died aged 88, radiated pure joy as he played – never resting on his laurels as he went from jazz to salsa to house and beyond

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.