“Born in Manhattan of Puerto Rican parents in 1936, Eddie Palmieri is salsa’s maverick genius and the winner of seven Grammy awards. With the passing of the great band leader Tito Puente, this one-time enfant terrible has become salsa’s elder statesman. Yet, while Afro-Cuban music’s overwhelming impact on 20th-century music is now universally acknowledged, for most of us salsa is simply great party music – sexy, stylish, but not much more than that. Palmieri represents Latin music at its most intellectual, but isn’t the whole idea of “deep salsa” a contradiction in terms?”