Pittsburgh JazzLive International Festival 2013: dancing salsa to Eddie Palmieri

Jun 8, 2013 · 2 minute read · Comments
musicsalsaLatin jazzLatin danceEddie PalmierijazzPoint State ParkPittsburgh JazzLive International FestivalThree Rivers Arts FestivalFloating EchoPittsburgh

Abby and I went downtown in Pittsburgh to check out the great Eddie Palmieri and his salsa orchestra, one of the main attractions of this year’s Pittsburgh JazzLive International Festival. Although I have a number of Eddie Palmieri’s music recordings, this was the first time I saw him live.

We arrived later than intended, so the place was already packed. There were guards for a taped-off seating section in front of the stage, apparently reserved for VIPs. However, we were asked if we were dancers, and we said yes, so they let us into the dancing area, which was already pretty packed with hardcore Pittsburgh salsa fans.

Some videos

You can see some of us local dancers here (Abby and I were dancing further from the stage):

More footage here from another source here:

I admit to being slightly disappointed (but not surprised at all) that Palmieri and friends did not display as much jazz virtuosity as they possess (and which you can find in their more “Latin jazz” vs. “salsa” work). They played tamer improvisations, as they were playing primarily for dancing here.

Crowded

Because it got more and more crowded, and also the music was rather loud anywhere near the stage, at some point we left the designated dancing section and exited. We continued dancing for a bit on a side street off Penn Ave. Eventually we had enough and decided to wander off to Point State Park for a cool-down walk and to check out other acts for the Three Rivers Arts Festival (which the jazz portion is a subset of).

Point State Park

The fountain:

A curiosity that we saw at the bridge to Point State Park was “Floating Echo”, a translucent floating Buddha as public art:

Conclusion

It was good to get out there and dance with Abby. I had been feeling really tired all day, but insisted on getting out of the house and was glad I did. I felt it was particularly important to do something with Abby this weekend, because last weekend, after Pittsburgh TechFest and my health problems that led to going to urgent care, I had to bail out of a planned hike together on Sunday, and Abby went to the “Getting wet at Ohiopyle hike” alone, without me, her first hike of the entire year (because of her breaking her foot in winter).