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Biography:
It always seemed strange that Remo Palmieri, who gained some attention in the early days of bop, never became a bigger name, particularly since he was active for such a long period of time. Palmieri originally hoped to be an artist and he played guitar with local groups in order to pay for his studies. However, by 1942, he was a full-time musician, playing with Nat Jaffe's Trio. From that point on, Palmieri had a succession of big-name jobs, including with Coleman Hawkins (1943), Red Norvo (1944), Barney Bigard, Billie Holiday, Phil Moore, and Dizzy Gillespie (1945), recording with Bird and Diz. Awarded a "new star" award from Esquire in 1945, Palmieri was one of the first guitarists to extend the ideas of Charlie Christian, but he chose to live the life of a studio musician. He joined the staff of CBS, worked for 27 years with the Arthur Godfrey Show, performed frequently in anonymous settings and therefore became known as merely a footnote in jazz history, having appeared on the original recorded version of &"Groovin' High." Palmieri reappeared on an infrequent basis in later years, recording with Herb Ellis in 1978 and making a Concord album of his own (his only date as a leader) that year. Remo Palmieri (also sometimes known as Palmier) also had opportunities to play with Benny Goodman and Dick Hyman in the '70s and appeared with Swing Reunion (resulting in a recording) in 1985. But one is left wondering how significant a career he might have had had he stuck to jazz. Scott Yanow, All Music Guide