THE BRONX — Former-Yankee-turned-singer-songwriter Bernie Williams, Latin jazz pianist Eddie Palmieri and several other musicians are banding together to help support famed drummer Giovanni Hidalgo with a benefit concert to assist with his diabetes treatment.
The lefty percussionist, who first started playing the conga drums at age eight and has performed with legends including Dizzy Gillespie, Phish and D'Angelo, said he had to have his left ring finger amputated in October because of an infection, and his colleagues in the music industry quickly came together to help support him.
"I’ve been pleasantly overwhelmed with the calls and all the musicians and artists that want to participate," said fellow drummer Bobby Allende, who has known Hidalgo since the early '80s and is helping to organize the concert.
The show will take place at 7 p.m. on March 22 in the Lehman Center for the Performing Arts, and all proceeds will go to help Hidalgo with his medical bills and other expenses, according to Allende.
A GoFundMe page has been set up for Hidalgo as well that had raised just over $19,000 as of Thursday afternoon.
The 53-year-old Hidalgo, who currently lives in Florida, said he was very appreciative of all the work his friends in the music industry were doing to help support him.
"I’m super excited," he said, "and first of all, they are not only my friends. They are my brothers."
"That’s my tribe. That’s my family," he continued, "all the people that I played with."
However, Hidalgo also downplayed his health problems, maintaining that he still had a positive attitude about his life and would figure out a way to keep playing the drums, regardless of his amputated finger.
"It doesn’t matter for me if I have to play with one stick or two sticks," he said.
In addition to Williams and Palmieri, performers at the show will include Tony Vega, Domingo Quiñones and Ralph Irizarry, and organizers are promising plenty of surprise guests as well.
Allende estimated that the show would end around 11 p.m., but he also said he was not too concerned about setting a concrete time for the concert's conclusion.
"We don't want to overdose on people, but it’s going to be one of those evenings where people are not even going to be conscious of the time," he said. "There’s going to be so much going on."
Tickets for the show range from $65 to $125 and can be purchased online.
Eva Bornstein, executive director of the Lehman Center, said the concert was in support of a wonderful cause and believed the show would be a very moving experience.
"This is going to be the concert of a lifetime because we have assembled so many wonderful fans in support of a musician who is a legend in his own right," she said, "and it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity to see all of these great, powerful legends on the stage."
