Cachao essays

Cachao essays His name is Israel Lopez, but he is known as Cachao. His real name is music though. Born into a family who were all bass crazy, at least thirty five members of the Cachao clan have played the double bass at one time or another, either with the Havana Filarmonica, or in popular combos. Some of them, like his older brother the late Orestes played with the Filarmonica under the baton of Eric Kleiber, formerly the conductor of the Berlin Opera Orchestra. Cachao was so young then that they had to build him a soapbox to reach his double bass. He is not only a bass virtuoso, but a composer, arranger and bandleader as well. He also plays the trumpet, the piano, the celesta and the bongos. (Figueroa, 1) But he is not your usual one-man band. His modesty precludes him to claim that he is actually a peer of Charlie Mingus. It is virtually impossible to catch Cachao-or to pin him down to a single instrument, though the double bass is his constant companion. (Someone) It was 1939 when Cachao and his brother created the first mambo which was called what else? Mambo. It derived from the most classical of Cuban rhythms, the danzon. Out of the danzon also the chachacha-and a little later another first by Cachao, the descarga, also called the Cuban jam session. The descarga (which could mean to unload or to release an electric bolt) was another direction the mambo took under Cachao as composer and leader, with the best musicians available playing for fun after hours. They did it for their own pleasure not for money. (Ayala, 2) Fortunately, some of the best descargas were recorded at the time (mid 50s). These pieces were put together and called Como su ritmo no hay dos (Cachao, Like His Rhythm There Is No Other). The latest recording before this masterpiece was an anthology called Forty Years of Cuban Jam Session, homage from Paquito DRivera, which contains Cachaos ...