Cachao, The Mambo and Erin…

For example, somebody takes a train, a train has a rhythm, too... If you stand between the two wagons on the train, you hear that rhythm. If you listen, you hear what the engine is doing and what the wheels are doing, and when you least expect it, there's a great rumba happening there!
Israel "Cachoa" Lopez

In 1948, I just came to visit. I remember this really funny thing. I went to the White House. At that time, Truman was President, and Truman was a pianist. He had a great piano in there. At that time, they let the tourists and excursions go into the White House, because there wasn't terrorism. Then I went and they let me in with the excursion, with the tourists, and they heard me playing Truman's piano. They let the people play.
Cachao

***Descargas Vol.2 (1957 recordings, 2004 reissue) signed by Cachao’***

When I’m playing a serious concert, I handle the bass in the classic form, but when I play my own music, anything goes - a hand here, another there. I’ll play one way and then another, however the whim hits me. It’s just another of my creations. I like people to see something they’ve never seen before.
Cachao
There was serious music: Brahms, Hayden, all that, and also opera, Puccini and what have you. Then there was my music. If for example, I were playing an opera - any opera - I’d finish up and go to the dance hall. Generally, concerts ended around 11:00 at night. By 11:30, I’d be playing at the dance hall. It was another universe! I’d do both and feel good in either atmosphere. But I liked classical music, I still do.
Cachao

***Descargas..con el ritmo de Cachao (1961)***

Israel "Cachao" Lopez is one of the most important musicians of the 20th century. Born in Havana, Cuba in 1918 to an extraordinary family of musicians (there are forty or more bass players in his extended family, including his mother and father), Israel was seemingly destined for greatness. A prodigy on bass, Israel joined the Havana Philharmonic when he was only twelve years old, standing on a crate so that he could see the conductor's admonitions and directions. He would remain associated with the Havana Philharmonic for the next thirty years, performing with and supporting visiting conductors Igor Stravinsky, Herbert von Karajan and Heitor Villa-Lobos, and others.

Israel was nicknamed "Cachao" by his grandfather, a reference to 'cachondeo,' or jokester, which befits Israel's exuberant and irreverent persona on and offstage. Along with his supremely talented brother Orestes, a multi-instrumentalist, composer and pianist, Israel helped change music forever when he joined Arcano y sus Maravillas and they co-wrote "Mambo." Cachao remembered, "The origins of mambo happened in 1937. My brother and I were trying to add something new to our music and came up with a section that we called danzon mambo. It made an impact and stirred up people. At that time, our music needed that type of enrichment." Heretofore, the danzon was a very traditional and staid Cuban dance form, which was not reflective of the fire and passion which Cachao and his brother Orestes unleashed with their composition and music. Subsequently, the Mambo craze swept Cuba and the United States through the stylings of Perez Prado, Tito Rodriguez, Tito Puente et al., and it remains a potent force in all Salsa and Latin rhythms today.

Israel and his brother were also prolific composers. While working with the Maravillas, a thief stole their music composition book and sheets of music. This served as a catalyst for Orestes and Cachao as they wrote more than one-thousand compositions together in the ensuing years, including "Chanchullo" which bears a striking similarity to Tito Puente's biggest hit, "Oye Como Va." Of course, Cachao was much too humble to cast aspersions on Puente's authorship and they worked together in New York when Cachao left Cuba and remained in exile.

If that wasn't enough, Cachao also popularized Descargas in the 1950s. Descarga was a Spanish verb which meant "to discharge electricity" and "to speak one's mind." Cachao recalled, “Musicians would come together from all the clubs - The Tropicana, The Hotel Nacional - at four in the morning to descagar, to let it all out. We made a first recording out of these improvisational jam sessions, and it wasn’t taken seriously in Cuba. ‘This guy must be crazy,’ people thought. Yet in the States, because of the jazz scene, it was taken seriously.” The improvised jams and late night blowing sessions featured Cuban legends Alfredo "Chocolate" Armenteros on trumpet, Generoso Jimenez on trombone, Candido Camero on conga, and, of course, brother Oreste on piano among many others. The leader, holding the bottom and driving the bus, was Cachao, effervescent and ever present.

The rest of Cachao's life unfolds like a bad VH1: Behind The Music episode. In 1962, Cachao left the oppressive Castro regime, toured Spain for eighteen months, then arrived unheralded in New York City in 1964. He found itinerant jobs playing bass in the orchestras of Tito Puente, Eddie Palmieri, and Tito Rodriguez, but he was not leading his own band, nor was he recording his own vast and potent songbook. Next came an ill advised move to Las Vegas in the 1970s where he had a residency playing casinos. A bad idea for a compulsive gambler with an acute gambling addiction, Las Vegas proved to be an unwelcome and inhospitable host. He squandered everything he owned, including his instruments and all his money. Finally, his wife forced him in the 1980s to move to Miami where there was a burgeoning Latin scene with many Cuban expats. Initially, Cachao struggled mightily there as well and he found gigs playing bar mitzvahs, quinceaneras, and weddings, a pitiful, unholy trifecta for a man of his renown, skill and talent.

Fortunately, Cachao found an unlikely and sustaining patron - Cuban born, American bred actor Andy Garcia. Andy grew up with Cachao's music and was determined to make him relevant again. A film, "The Mambo Kings", had recently been released and here was, perhaps, the ultimate King toiling in obscurity and irrelevance. First came a tribute concert in Miami in 1992, then Garcia financed a documentary - Cachao: Como Su Ritmo No Hays Dos - along with Emilio Estefan, Mr. Gloria Estefan of Miami Sound Machine fame. Finally, Cachao finally the recognition that he deserved and he won three Grammys in the twilight of his career, a fitting coda to his extraordinary talent.

Erin and I went to see Cachao perform at the Blue Note in New York City in 2006. He was eighty-eight years old and so full of life. A diminutive man, the bass looked to overwhelm him, and he had his fingers taped at the tips like a prizefighter. When the music started and his ten-piece band kicked in with full fury, he thumped and thwacked his bass and created such an infectious swirl and groove that it captivated all. His bow remained in his hand while he thrummed even though he seldom used it, a very unusual practice and technique. That bass never had a chance, it was beaten into submission. Cachao was, and is, the undisputed heavyweight champ! The songs were classic descargas, highlights from his recent Grammy winner, !Ahora Si!, also co-produced by Andy Garcia. It was a delicious night of unforgettable and joyous, life-affirming music.

After the show, Erin took the vinyl and went to visit with Cachao in his dressing room. There were quite a few fans paying their respects to the maestro and he was conversing with them in Spanish. When Erin approached him, she, too, spoke in Spanish and thanked him for his time and, especially his glorious music. Cachao brightened, thanked her, signed the album and she left, goods securely stowed.

Andy Garcia is an accomplished actor, nominated for an Academy Award for The Godfather III, and memorable as "Terry Benedict" in the Ocean Twelve trilogy, but his best and most enduring role by far, was resuscitating the career of the brilliant maestro Cachao, and rescuing him from the ignominy of hotel weddings. Mucho, mucho gracias! As Cachao’s documentary title translates, “Like His Rhythm, There’s None Other.”

Choice Cachao Cuts (per BKs request)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLQPFeGk2JA

“Descarga Mambo” Descarga y su Ritmo Caliente

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcOIpRqRQ-w

“Chanchullo” Arcano y sus Maravillas

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHWzfbBxuZA

“Mambo” Master Sessions 1994

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSbPXjqy4hM

“Mambo Cambio de Swing” with Andy Garcia, Jimmy Bosch

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPUhfMnf_KY

Descarga live with Paquito D’Rivera

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eewrHI2dFfs