Jazz and Blues Lounge

Saying Good-Bye to the Mambo King

by balaspa on March 22nd, 2008

A man by the name of Israel “Cachao” López has passed away.  He often just went by the name of Cachao (Ka-chow) and he was a bassist.  However, that would be like saying John Lennon was just a singer or Mozart was just a guy who can play piano.  Cachao was the man who pretty much invented the style of music we know today as “mambo.”

Now, technically speaking, mambo may not be jazz, but the way Cachao played, it was very close.  According to the WIKIPEDIA entry for Cachao:

“A possibly more important move took place in 1957, when Cachao gathered a group of musicians in the early hours of the morning, pumped from playing gigs at Havana’s popular nightclubs, to jam in front of the mikes of a recording studio. The resulting descargas, known to music aficionados worldwide as Cuban jam sessions, revolutionized Afro-Cuban popular music. Under Cachao’s direction, these masters improvised freely in the manner of jazz, but their vocabulary was Cuba’s popular music. This was the model that wold make live performances of Afro-Cuban based genres, from salsa to Latin jazz, so incredibly hot.”

Cachao worked primarily in those days with his brother Orestes Lopez.  They composed thousands of pieces of music at that time.  From the 1930s through the 1950s they helped shape the very sound and nature of Cuban music.  Without them, the latin jazz and Cuban jazz music that so many of us have come to know and love just wouldn’t have existed.

Again, from the Wikipedia entry:

“Lopez has won several Grammy Awards for both his own work and his contributions on albums by Latin music stars, including Gloria Estefan. In 1995, he won a Grammy for Master Sessions Volume 1. In 2003, he won a Latin Grammy for Best Traditional Tropical Latin Album together with Bebo and Patato Valdés for El Arte Del Sabor.

“His nephew, Orlando “Cachaíto” López became one of the mainstays of the famed Buena Vista Social Club group.”

See, right there, you know the influence he had on latin jazz with the Buena Vista Social Club.  He as 89 years old and passed away due to kidney failure.  He was too young and the world is a bit sadder without him.

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