Chaleco charlie palmieri the heavyweight

By the time he released The Heavyweight in 1978, bandleader and keyboardist extraordinaire Charlie Palmieri had already recorded his share of masterpieces for the Alegre label; albums such as El Gigante del Teclado, Vuelve El Gigante and Adelante, Gigante had established Charlie Palmieri’s band as one of the decade’s most elegant conjuntos.

Propelled by the visionary keyboard artistry of Eddie Palmieri’s older brother, these earlier records boasted the smoky vocalizing of Puerto Rican crooner Vitín Avilés.

A reckless firecracker of a session, The Heavyweight is an idiosyncratic record that adds decidedly eccentric touches to the Palmieri experience.

It also follows his time proven credo of catering to the Latino dance floor with numbers that swing mercilessly, while maintaining an exquisite sense of restraint about them. In addition, it finds the bandleader seriously infatuated with the melodica, an instrument he uses in many of the tracks here, creatin