Carl Palmer's ELP Legacy Comes to NYC Oct. 21-23

Legendary drummer Carl Palmer shows no signs of slowing down as he continues a 50-year career over which he has established himself as one of the all-time great sticksmen. During his time with 1970s British prog-rock progenitors Emerson, Lake & Palmer, 1980s rock supergroup Asia and now, Carl Palmer’s ELP Legacy, the man has mesmerized audiences with his incredibly technical, dynamic, inventive and engaging drum work.

A prime example is the just released CD/DVD release, “Carl Palmer’s ELP Legacy Live.” The CD includes a 2014 New York City show featuring a full-length version of the title track to “Tarkus,” ELP’s monumental second album.

The DVD documents a special 2016 Miami tribute concert to the memories of Palmer’s former ELP bandmates, keyboard wizard Keith Emerson and singer/guitar/bass virtuoso Greg Lake, both of whom died in 2016. The show includes guest appearances by ex-Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett and Vanilla Fudge singer Mark Stein. Palmer is incredible on ELP favorites such as “Karn Evil 9 (Welcome Back My Friends),” “Jerusalem” and “The Barbarian.”

The drummer formed Carl Palmer’s ELP Legacy in 2001 to both carry on the band’s work and try something new by reconstructing their music as a power trio. Far from a tribute act, Carl Palmer’s ELP Legacy does not even include a keyboard player. Instead, Palmer, guitarist Paul Bielatowicz and bassist Simon Fitzpatrick take the band’s music to fiery new heights.

Don’t miss the opportunity to see Carl Palmer’s ELP Legacy next week in Manhattan. The group performs on Oct. 21, 22 and 23 at The Iridium. Information can be found at https://theiridium.com/event/c...

Palmer recently spoke to us by phone.

Can you tell us about the importance to you of carrying on the ELP legacy?

I started ELP Legacy in 2001 and we've created a new genre of ELP fans. ELP’s music has been played by an orchestra, by jazz groups, by rock bands, but never quite the way I’ve done it as a power trio and using guitars as a driving force in place of the keyboards. We’re going about it in a fresh way. It’s a different form of energy; it gives the music another sound. It’s a great show and I’m very proud of the musicians. The legacy has and will carry on. There’s three generations of fans now. People my age, people in their 30s and 40s, and their children.

ELP wowed audiences early on with their interpretations of classical pieces like Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition.” What inspired you to take on classical works?

I come from a classical background, as did Keith. The fusion movement had been started with people like Jacques Louissier from France, who played jazz versions of Bach compositions on piano. Classical music is very strong in Europe and taking a piece of classical music and adapting it on your own contemporary instruments was always a goal to push the barrier of that form of music.

What’s your take on the prog-rock scene today?

It's all in good order as far as I’m concerned. There seems to be a lot of young prog-rock bands in the Philadelphia area. I was playing a prog-rock festival in Chicago and there were a lot of great bands from Philadelphia. It’s never going to be as big as it was but at least England gave the world prog-rock and America gave the world jazz. Neither is as popular an art form as they used to be but they won’t fall away.

You’ve been drumming professionally for 50 years. What keeps you going?

What we’re doing now is a challenging way of playing the ELP music. I need to stay on top of my game and advance the art of drumming as much as I possibly can. If I can maintain what I do and improve I’m going to carry on. And I have been improving; my feet have been getting better especially. The minute I know I’m not delivering to my standards then I’ll stop. But I don’t see that happening anytime soon.