Piti’s Patrick Palomo plays piano pleasingly.
Catch jazz pianist/composer Patrick Palomo at the Westin Hotel lobby bar on a Wednesday evening and you’ll find soothing piano jazz, an intelligent mix of Palomo’s original songs, jazz standards and the occasional pop tune. Catch him Fridays at House of Brutus with the Brutus jazz band backing 19-year-old singer Crystal Paco and be prepared for something a bit stronger. And Saturday’s at the Fishbowl with Caliente is all together different, with Latin rhythms flying all over the place.
Born and raised on Guam, Palomo, 52, is one of the island’s most familiar and talented musicians. He was an original member of The Kasuals, a 70s Guam dance band that was hugely popular here and even more so in Hawaii, and toured the Pacific Northwest. Palomo’s four CD releases, two on San Francisco-based Monarch Records, have garnered popular and critical praise locally and internationally. He performs constantly, as a solo pianist and with two different bands on Guam, and is headed for Hawaii and points east as part of a month-long tour by a number of Guam artists and performers. He’s been a consultant to Guam’s Council on the Arts and Humanities, and periodically represents Guam at regional visitor industry trade shows.
And it is perhaps no coincidence that Palomo works regularly with many of Guam’s younger musicians, as both his parents were noted Guam educators, but the benefit of doing so has exposed him to younger audiences as well who also appreciate his work.
And he is respected by his peers, not only for his music, but because he is a genuinely nice guy.
Palomo grew up in the tiny seaside village of Piti amongst a tightly knit family, and in a house full of music. His strong family ties are reflected in his music; the lead tracks on two of his albums, Piti Village and Alupang Sunset, are written with two of his sisters in mind.
“My earliest musical memory at home, the piano, my mom played. My dad played guitar,” Palomo said.
And even then, the influences were diverse.
“Other than the tunes my mom would play on piano like Over the Rainbow and show tunes and tunes that were popular, I mostly listened to what my dad was playing from his Verve records.”
Verve was the American jazz record label of the late 50s, promoting top artists like Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, Oscar Peterson and Stan Getz.
“My dad was playing stuff by (jazz guitar virtuoso) Barney Kessel, Duke Ellington, on a Telefunken hifi, on 10 inch platters. I was listening to a lot of great music. That’s all they played at home. There was no radio.”
But Palomo did see the Beatles on a recorded and rebroadcast edition of the Ed Sullivan Show, when Guam had a single, part-time television station, and he began to hear them everywhere else.
“It kind of stuck to me,” he said.
It was the strong melodic emphasis, as well as the vocal harmonies that drew his interest, he added.
Palomo said he fell under a Latin spell when he heard Antonio Carlos Jobim, who, along with Stevie Wonder he names as a most favorite composers. Latin rhythms pulsate throughout his recorded work and in performance. His surname, after all, is Palomo. Somewhere along the way, his Chamorro heritage played a duet with Espania.
The Fab Four’s melodic focus, and his perhaps inherent appreciation of Latin beats still resonates in Palomo. On the free internet radio site UK Real.com, reviewer Robert Leaver wrote, “Guam native Patrick Palomo performs Latin-tinged jazz in a small ensemble group. Showing strong technique, his original compositions demonstrate his melodic strengths. Tropical dinner jazz that still bops.”
Palomo said his latest recording, Evolutions, shows how he has grown since 1992’s Piti Village. The two-disc Evolutions recasts a number of Piti Village songs.
“I think I have evolved musically because I felt more peaceful about doing it and there was more of this maturity, of the way that I felt inside.”
Yet, Palomo is far from finished in his own evolution. He continues his musical self-education by studying jazz greats like Art Tatum. And he listens to new music as well, like the UK’s Jaime Cullun.
"I still feel I have so much to learn.”
I still listen to Herbie Hancock, Keith Jarrett and Chick Corea, cause they’re all evolving and getting so much better. What they’re doing is phenomenal, especially because they always work with the younger musicians that are coming out, and man, these cats are getting better and better all the time.”
It’s no surprise then, that most of Palomo’s bandmates are younger, some a generation or more so.
“We’re just oozing with young talent here on our island.”
Having been through leaner, trying times, Palomo optimistic and happy.
“I’m taking advantage of having gigs and still being healthy to play.”
And he says jokingly but not kidding, “Two more years and I can think about going to the (University of Guam) and not having to pay tuition.
The school allows residents aged 55 and up to attend tuition-free.
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