Latin jazz legend Eddie Palmieri remembered with street re-naming in East Harlem
Eddie Palmieri, the East Harlem legend who revolutionized Latin music, now has a street renamed in his honor.
Palmieri died on Aug. 6, 2025, at the age of 88.
Recognizing East Harlem's legacy
On Wednesday, the salsa legend's legacy was cemented with a street sign reading "Eddie Palmieri Way" at the corner of East 112th Street and Park Avenue.
"East Harlem continues to change and evolve, but we have to recognize the legacy and the important leaders who helped really transform and transcend a community," said Robert J. Rodriguez, with the New York State Dormitory Authority.
The celebration included live music from The Eddie Palmieri Experience and drew New Yorkers like 9-year-old Natalie Carrero and her mom.
"It's like my favorite music and I always listen to it," Natalie said.
"Being that she's from Puerto Rico, I want to instill the culture and her music in her upbringing," mom Jessica said.
"He was all about bringing in the youth and not having people forget the music, forget the origin of the Afro-Caribbean music," Palmieri's daughter, Eydie Palmieri, said. "His landmark songs were about liberty and justice."
Eddie Palmieri's influence
From Bad Bunny to Marc Anthony to Cardi B, Latin artists have been at the forefront of the music industry over the last decade.
At the 68th annual Grammy Awards this year, Bad Bunny made history when his album, "DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS," was the first Spanish-language project to win Album of the Year, but it might not have happened if the late Eddie Palmieri had not won the first ever Grammy for Best Latin Recording in the late 1970s.
Born to Puerto Rican parents from Ponce, Palmieri's family moved to the South Bronx when he was a child. He grew up performing at talent shows across New York City with his older brother Carlos, better known as Charlie.
Charlie Palmieri was a musical icon in his own right and has a street named after him at the same corner: East 112th Street and Park Avenue.
The brothers revolutionized the music industry by fusing the rhythms of Afro-Latin communities in places like Cuba and Puerto Rico with jazz, which has a storied history in Harlem.
Eddie Palmieri often sang about the struggles of Black and Latino people globally, and he famously performed at Sing Sing Correctional Facility in Ossining, New York, in 1972. His 11th studio album, "Justicia," dealt with themes of inequality and discrimination.
Eddie Palmieri's family said the late legend wanted his listeners to remember the origins of his music, highlighting the melting pot that is the Caribbean.
It's an ideology carried on by artists like Bad Bunny, who chose to launch his latest world tour with a 30-date Puerto Rican-exclusive concert residency in 2025. After Eddie Palmieri passed, Bad Bunny paid tribute to him during that residency, performing part of Palmieri's 1971 classic, "Vámonos Pa'l Monte."
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