Joseph Palermino, 89, freelance jazz bassist

Joseph P. Palermino was a happy guy, so he didn't want any sad faces at his wake. The Bo Winiker Band will do its best to honor his wish tonight when members salute their old bandmate by providing musical accompaniment to the viewing in the Philip X. Carr Funeral Home in Melrose.

"Joe was always happy and laughing, and we're going to try and create that kind of a mood," Bo Winiker said yesterday. "We're going to play some of the upbeat music that we played with him."

Mr. Palermino, 89, a freelance bassist who played with Benny Goodman, Dizzy Gillespie, and the Bo Winiker Orchestra for many years, died Sunday in Sunbridge at North Reading nursing home.

The son of a chef who worked at the Ritz and Copley Plaza hotels, Mr. Palermino was introduced to jazz when his father was cooking at a resort in Vermont where Duke Ellington performed.

Ellington was fond of Italian food, so the elder Palermino kept him well supplied. In return, the jazz great let him sing a couple of Italian tunes with the band and allowed his 9-year-old son to sit at the piano when the band performed.

After only one night in the limelight, Mr. Palermino was hooked. But first he had to choose an instrument.

"He said he started with the trumpet, and heard Louis Armstrong and said, 'Forget it.' He took up the piano and then he heard Art Tatum and said, 'Forget it again,' " his son Joseph of Wenham said yesterday. Mr. Palermino finally settled on the bass.

His first paying gig was at the Brown Jug in Chelsea.

"He was only 14 years old," said Joseph. "He had to skip school to earn the money for his family. They would slip him out the door when the truant officer came by."

Mr. Palermino got a classical music education at the New England Conservatory of Music, where, he said, the professor would sometimes rap his wrist if he lapsed into jazz.

A versatile performer, he was one of the first of the old jazz men to pick up the electric guitar in the 1950s. He often played with Tony Bennett and Dionne Warwick when they were in town.

"Glenn Miller and Benny Goodman wanted him to travel, but he wanted to stay home. He had a family to raise, " said his son.

He worked a number of day jobs and once owned appliance stores in Melrose and Wakefield.

"Music was his passion," said Joseph, "but he always had to work two or three jobs."

Mr. Palermino was a sharp dresser whose sartorial trademark was the cowboy hat he wore, even with a tuxedo. "He always said it was important to make people remember who you are," said Joseph.

"There are certain people you want to be around and Joe was one of them," said Bill Winiker. "He was not a thumper; he was a real bass player who had a good ear for harmony."

In addition to his son, he leaves five additional sons, Paul of Walpole, David of Wakefield, Richard of Rhode Island, Chris of Vermont, and Anthony of California; a daughter, Lorraine Palermino-Burt of California; two sisters, Sister Lucy Palermino of the Benedictine Oblate Order in California and Peggy Cavin of Nevada; and 11 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

A funeral service will be held at 10 a.m. tomorrow in Philip X. Carr Funeral Home in Melrose. Burial will be in Holy Cross Cemetery in Malden.