Potent Salsa From Eddie Palmieri

When Eddie Palmieri blended steamy salsa songs with experimental Latin jazz more than two decades ago, many critics and Afro Cuban music fans lauded his work as far ahead of his time.

And they were right. It’s been 20 years or more, and the music has matured beautifully.

On Friday night at the Sportsmen’s Lodge in Studio City, the pianist and bandleader reunited with his most celebrated vocalist, Ismael Quintana, for a dance concert that focused heavily on such 1960s and ‘70s classics as “Azucar,” “Oyelo Que Te Conviene” and ‘Adoracion.”

The idiosyncratic genius of Palmieri, for whom the word “unpredictable” is a gross understatement, showed repeatedly during a pair of sets how he can shift in a breathtaking flash from uninspired musings to music so explosive and compact that you believe him when he says that Latin beats have the potential to be the dominant music of the 21st century.

Although the show was advertised as a night of just salsa, Palmieri, to no one’s surprise, did things his way. That meant long, rambling piano intros that had most of the crowd waiting patiently for the dancing bits, and it meant erratic decisions, such as inviting on stage “conguero” pioneer Francisco Aguabella, for an endless, sterile solo. When he stuck to the salsa rather than the Latin jazz, however, the show came alive with music that was potent, evocative and timeless.