Artist:Cachao
Song:Mambo
Album:Master Sessions Volume 1
Israel "Cachao" Lopez was a legendary Cuban bassist who is best known as the co-creator of the mambo and a master of the improvised jam sessions known in Cuba as descargo. After moving to the US in the 50s, he was mostly a studio musician until Cuban American actor Andy Garcia produced a documentary and got Lopez a record deal with a major label. This 1994 album was the first album of that deal. He was born Israel Lopez Valdez Sept. 14, 1918 in Havana, Cuba. He was from a musical family. His older brother Orestes "Macho" Lopez taught him to play bass and together they created the mambo. Lopez started out playing music for silent films and played bass with the Orquestra Filarmonica de La Habana. Then he joined the danzon band Arcano y sus Maraviillas and helped compose many danzone songs including the song Mambo. They wrote plenty of songs and also played standards like Somewhere Over the Rainbow. This band was very popular on radio in the 40s. But Lopez got tired of writing sheet music for every band member and left in 1949. He joined the orchestra for the Broadway style theater Blanquita Theater. In 1957, Lopez was part of an all night recording studio jam called descargas. This was the start of Cuban jazz and the resulting albums were very successful. But this was the height of Fidel Castro's Cuban Revolution. Lopez' wife moved to New Jersey in 1958 and Lopez went to Madrid, Spain in 1962. After performing with Perez Prado, Lopez reunited with his wife in 1963 in New York and became an in demand sideman playing with Tito Puente and others. After a decade in New York, Lopez moved to Las Vegas and played in clubs. After releasing a couple of 1977 albums as a leader on Salsoul Records, Lopez moved to Miami and recorded with pianist Paquito Hechevarria. Then at the 1989 San Francisco Jazz Festival, Lopez was playing with Carlos Santana when Cuban American actor Andy Garcia asked him if he was interested in a tribute concert and a documentary. The concert was held on July 31, 1992 in Miami and the documentary Cachao...como su ritmo no hay dos was released in 1993. You can watch it on YouTube. Garcia directed the documentary and he contacted Miami Sound Machine leader Emilio Estefan Jr. and got him a record deal with Estefan's Crescent Moon label with Epic Records distribution. And that's when this 1994 album was released. Garcia produced the album but Lopez was musical director. All kinds of musicians played on the album including Paquito D'Rivera, Chocolate Armenteros and Jimmy Bosch. Volume 2 was released in 1995. Lopez recorded a couple more albums and received Grammy and Hall of Fame awards. He appeared with Bebo Valdes in Fernando Trueba's 2000 concert film Calle 54. That can be streamed on the Russian website ok.ru. Lopez' final appearance was on Gloria Estefan's 2007 album 90 Millas. Lopez died of kidney failure on Mar. 22, 2008 at age 89. His final concert was in Miami in 2007 and Sony released it as The Last Mambo in 2011. Here's the video for Mambo by Cachao.
Frank, I don't know if my first comment made it through to you. I think the system glitched, or my computer. I liked the flute playing in this piece. It is very good music. I liked the photographs from the 40's and 50's. They really added to this video and the atmosphere of the music. Thank you very much sir. David.
ReplyDeleteI believe the video was made for this album. The flutist is Nestor Torres. He was born in Puerto Rico and lives in Miami. He is mostly an in demand sideman on Latin jazz albums.
ReplyDeleteThank you Frank. I can see why he is in demand. He is very good.
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