[JPL] "Papa Bass", Israel López Cachao passed away at 89

Sat Mar 22 15:46:04 EDT 2008

Very sad news.

Bobby Jackson wrote:
> This week's sponsor: THE PIERS LAWRENCE QUARTET - 'STOLEN MOMENTS'
> Features the exceptional musicality of guitarist, Piers Lawrence, 
> bassist Jim Hankins, Sir Earl Grice on drums and Chuk Fowler on piano.
>
> A return to classic sound - ''a warm slice of straight ahead Jazz'' 
> ejazz online,
>
> The quality of emotion that first brought you into Jazz - ''Along with 
> the excellent soloing, this quartet captures the character of a late 
> night jazz scene.''
> - All about Jazz LA.
>
> Well chosen songs - ''great standards such as ''Pent-up House,'' 
> ''Stolen Moments,'' ''Donna Lee'' and the gem, ''Secret Love''
>
> ''Soulful, melodic guitar playing and prolific songwriting makes this 
> CD a masterful offering'' - All About Jazz
>
> Thanks to Jim Eigo at Jazz Promo Services &amp;amp; Mike Hurzon at The 
> Tracking Station
>
> for interviews and additional info,  www.JazzNetMedia.com or Tionna 
> Smalls - 917-583-4164
>
> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>
> Cachao gave so much during his life.  He will certainly be missed.  
> Now he is with Orestes.
>
> R.I.P.
>
> :(
>
> Aloha,
>
> Bobby Jackson
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Arturo" <arturo893 at qwest.net>
> To: "jazzproglist at jazzweek. com" <jazzproglist at jazzweek.com>
> Sent: Saturday, March 22, 2008 2:54 PM
> Subject: [JPL] "Papa Bass", Israel López Cachao passed away at 89
>
>
>> This week's sponsor: THE PIERS LAWRENCE QUARTET - 'STOLEN MOMENTS'
>>
>> Features the exceptional musicality of guitarist, Piers Lawrence, 
>> bassist Jim Hankins, Sir Earl Grice on drums and Chuk Fowler on piano.
>>
>> A return to classic sound - ''a warm slice of straight ahead Jazz'' 
>> ejazz online,
>>
>> The quality of emotion that first brought you into Jazz - ''Along 
>> with the excellent soloing, this quartet captures the character of a 
>> late night jazz scene.''
>> - All about Jazz LA.
>>
>> Well chosen songs - ''great standards such as ''Pent-up House,'' 
>> ''Stolen Moments,'' ''Donna Lee'' and the gem, ''Secret Love''
>>
>> ''Soulful, melodic guitar playing and prolific songwriting makes this 
>> CD a masterful offering''
>> - All About Jazz
>>
>> Thanks to Jim Eigo at Jazz Promo Services &amp;amp; Mike Hurzon at 
>> The Tracking Station
>>
>> for interviews and additional info,  www.JazzNetMedia.com or Tionna 
>> Smalls - 917-583-4164
>>
>> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>>
>> The legendary Israel López Cachao whose 2nd surname also served as his
>> nickname, "Cachao" passed away today Saturday, March 22nd at 7:30am 
>> Miami
>> time after a week long hospitalization, he was 89 years of age. He 
>> died from
>> complications of kidney failure.
>>
>> I was awakened early this morning from a Miami friend who called me 
>> to give
>> me this very sad news. I am sure in the next few days there will be many
>> obits and tribute written, most will be filled with erroneous data 
>> starting
>> with his name. Most write his name as Israel "cachao" López when in 
>> reality
>> he was born Israel López Cachao and his 2nd surname became his nickname.
>> Born September 14th, 1918, Havana Cuba. he was born and raised in the 
>> former
>> house of Cuban poet, freedom fighter and national heroe José Martí. The
>> López Cachao family have an extensive music connection, musicians &
>> composers. Israel began playing bass at age 8, he and Mario Bauzá 
>> were the
>> first afro-cubans to play with the Havana Philarmonic. Cachao was also a
>> fine pianist.
>>
>> Cachao was, in his last years, the most important living figure in Cuban
>> music, on or off the island. And according to Cuban-music historian Ned
>> Sublette he was ''arguably the most important bassist in 
>> twentieth-century
>> popular music,'' innovating not only Cuban music but also influencing 
>> the
>> now familiar bass lines of American R&B, ``which have become such a 
>> part of
>> the environment that we don't even think where they came from.'' Bill 
>> Haley
>> and the Comets' bass player said he picked up his bass influences from
>> Cachao when his family visited Cuba in the early 1950s.
>>
>> Cachao and his brother pianist Orestes "Macho"  are most widely known 
>> for
>> their late-1930s invention of the mambo, a hot coda to the popular but
>> stately danzón that allowed the dancers to break loose at the end of a
>> piece.  The López brothers were part of Cuba's leading danzón orchesta,
>> Arcaño y sus Maravillas that was losing popularity in the dance halls
>> because dancers preferred the new son rhythm that had arrived in 
>> Havana from
>> the eastern end of Cuba because unlike the danzón it was not a 
>> structered
>> and allowed dancers to open up and strut their stuff. The mambo 
>> section of
>> the danzón allowed the dancers to have the same opportunity, they called
>> this "nuevo ritmo danzón" or new danzón rhythm. The first composition in
>> this style was titled "Mambo" (1937) Depending on which African dialect
>> referenced, mambo signifies either "story-tale" or "hot-devilish"  In 
>> the
>> early 1940 Arsenio Rodríguez, the Godfather of "Salsa" was the first to
>> create mambo riffs for his trumpet section, the second step in the 
>> creation
>> of mambo. Finally in the late 1940s (Damaso) Pérez Prado took what 
>> the López
>> brothers and Arsenio cooked up and developed the full blown mambo we 
>> know
>> today, first in Cuba then Mexico, the US and the world. It was in NYC 
>> during
>> the 1950s the famed "Palladium Era" that the mambo reached its zenith of
>> popularity and creativity.
>>
>> In 1957, 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. Although Cachao was not the first to lead these 
>> descargas-jam
>> sessions, he helped make them a staple of Latin music.
>>
>> In 1961 Cachao arrived in New York and recorded for the Joe Cain 
>> Orchestra
>> that featured Clark Terry, Jeromoe Richardson and a fine cast of Latino
>> musicians, from there he moved on to the Tito Rodríguez Orchestra and
>> participated in the famed Tico Jam Sessions at the Village Gate of which
>> there are 3 volumes recorded for Tico, now re-issued under the Fania
>> umbrella of labels. Cachao lived in Las Vegas for many years playing 
>> for the
>> casinos and was part of the fine Pablo recording "Ecue: Ritmos Cubanos"
>> under Louis Bellson's heading. In the early 1980s Israel moved to 
>> Miami to
>> get away from his gambling complusions and worked in relative 
>> obscurity for
>> many Miami and NYC salsa bands until Andy garcía decided to make him the
>> subject of a documentary and series of recordings in the early 1990s 
>> which
>> catapulted Israel López Cachao-"Cachao" into worldwide fame, 
>> traveling and
>> recording.
>>
>> Cachao's wife of 58 years, Ester Buenaventura López, died in 2004. 
>> Cachao
>> continued to perform and record with all the energy of a much younger
>> artist. Though visibly moved at the funeral of his fellow legend, 
>> trombonist
>> Generoso "El Tojo" Jiménez, in September 2007, he headlined a rollicking
>> concert in Miami a week later. On March 9 of this year, days before 
>> being
>> hospitalized, the multiple Grammy winner was in the Dominican Republic
>> receiving a lifetime achievement award, Cachao was planning an 
>> European tour
>> in August.
>>
>> Buena Vista Social Club bassist "Cachaito", Orlando López is Cachao's
>> nephew-son of his brother Orestes "Macho" López Cachao.
>>
>> Gracias por tanta buena música Maestro y por ser tan caballero conmigo.
>>
>> Arturo
>>
>>
>>
>> -- 
>>
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