Orlando 'Cachaíto' López

About Orlando 'Cachaíto' López

Best known as the "heart-beat of the Buena Vista Social Club," bass player Orlando "Cachaíto" López (1933–2009) was the one musician who played on every track on every album in the World Circuit Buena Vista Social Club series of CDs. He was featured in the Wim Wender’s documentary Buena Vista Social Club and was a constant member of the late Rubén González's and Ibrahim Ferrer's worldwide touring groups. But this is only part of his story. Cachaíto is considered to have been one of the finest bass players in Cuba and (in many people's minds), by logical extension, one of the finest bass players in the world. He passed away in a Havana hospital on February 9, 2009, after complications following a routine operation the previous week.

Cachaíto was the inheritor and keeper of the flame for an extraordinary Cuban musical dynasty. He was the son of Orestes López (bass, piano, cello, composer) and nephew of Israel "Cachao" López (bass, composer, and founding father of the descarga, the jam session), the brothers who were at the forefront of the revolutions in Cuban music from the ‘30s to the ‘50s. It was their introduction of the ritmo nuevo in the late ‘30s that transformed the danzón and sent shock waves through Havana by pushing African rhythms to the forefront of Cuban music and thereby paving the way for the mambo.

A crucial part of the López legacy was the tradition of the bass. For generations the family had made the instrument their own (legend has it that the extended family can count over 30 bass players in its lineage) and it was Cachaíto's mastery of the instrument that was his true inheritance. Cachaíto’s family was responsible for countless compositions, and attained the highest musicianship that could, unusually, combine symphony orchestra playing with jazz and popular styles. Cachaíto continued this tradition, maintaining a fine balance between popular, classical, and jazz music throughout his career.

Born in Havana in 1933, Cachaíto found himself in an extraordinary musical environment. As far as he could remember, music was all around him; every family member played an instrument, most at the top of their profession. His earliest memory was of carrying his father’s manuscript case to radio sessions by the Havana Symphony and often on the same day to Arcaño's legendary danzón orchestra. As a small child Cachaíto was favored by his father and was taken to many sessions and rehearsals where he sat and watched his father’s generation at work. It was clear from the beginning his path was mapped out, and that he would become a musician. Cachaíto never considered doing anything else. His early desire was to play the violin but tradition in the form of his grandfather (Pedro) dictated that he take up the bass. He began studying the bass as a child, initially, due to his size, using the cello and adapting the fingering. Throughout his youth he was encouraged by his aunt Coralia, who made sure that he studied hard. On the whole Cachaíto enjoyed the hard work, despite occasional frustrations when he was not able to join in with his schoolmates’ baseball games.

His aunt’s house was the family's musical laboratory where the López brothers and their colleagues congregated to compose and try out new ideas. The first piece that Cachaíto ever learned was Isora, composed by Coralia (she directed the danzón orchestra for weekend dances at the Isora Society club). At the age of 13, Cachaíto composed his first piece, a danzón called Isora Infantil.

Cachaíto was a witness to a revolution in Cuban music. His father kept him by his side almost constantly and he regularly attended sessions at the various social clubs including Isora Club and the original Buena Vista Social Club, where he saw such legendary bands as Arcaño y sus Maravillas presenting their first public performances of the ritmo nuevo and the legendary bandleader Arsenio Rodríguez. His abiding memory of Arsenio was the sheer power of the band, with the leader's unamplified tres achieving a drive beyond its natural volume. It was the López brothers who composed the theme songs for many of these clubs.

Cachaíto quickly developed an easy mastery of the classic Cuban style of bass playing, a big, powerful but precise tone with an ability to change key fast to accompany the exceptional soloists (a precision coming from classical training and the demands of the formal structure of the danzón) the ability to sight read and most of all, a powerful rhythmic drive and a huge swing and groove. From his early training, Cachaíto learned not to play too many notes but to focus on being the rock of the band and a constant for the dancers.

By the time he was 17, Cachaíto had taken over from his uncle as Arcaño’s bass player. In 1952, he was playing bass with the cabaret orchestra Bambú, and by 1957 with the popular Havana big band Riverside. In 1960, he followed his father and became a bassist with the National Symphony, taking a number of master classes with Czech bassist Karel Kopriva.

"I remember once I was playing with the orchestra and I had to appear on the country music TV program Palmas y Cañas (Palms and Sugar Cane)," Cachaíto recalled. "So as soon as the orchestra was finished I jumped in a taxi with my bass in my D.J. and before I knew it I was playing on the set. The orchestra had a visiting conductor from abroad and as chance would have it, he happened to see the program and the next day at rehearsal he said to me, 'Was that you I saw playing yesterday evening on the TV?' and I said 'Yes.' And he was astounded, and kept asking me, 'How can you play such different styles?' And I told him, 'I always have!'"
 
As well as his dual career playing classical and popular music, Cachaíto was also playing late night jazz. He played with a host of different musicians at descargas (jam sessions) lasting until the early morning in clubs all over Havana. He played for fílin singers like Omara Portuondo at the Rincón del Fílin, and for bolero singers like César Portillo de la Luz at such hot spots as El Gato Tuerto. At the invitation of musical director Manuel Galbán he played bass on the albums of Los Zafiros (The Sapphires) one of the most iconoclastic and experimental vocal groups of the 1960s. As well as being part of the city’s bohemian night life, Cachaíto participated in the opening up of classical music to popular influences: he prizes a photo of him playing the bass solo in Arioso, Leo Brouwer's 1965 homage to Charlie Mingus, for the Jazz Combo which formed part of the National Symphony Orchestra. This quintet included pianist Chucho Valdés and saxophonist Paquito D'Rivera, who were to become a key part of the next legendary generation. Together with Valdés, Cachaíto became part of the influential award winning Orquesta Cubana de Musica Moderna. Chucho Valdés went on to found the innovative Afro-Cuban jazz group Irakere.

In 1996, Juan de Marcos González brought Cachaíto to Egrem studios to record on the first Afro-Cuban All Stars project. Cachaíto then went on to record on the now legendary Buena Vista Social Club and Rubén González albums. It was these seminal sessions and his meeting with Nick Gold that established Cachaíto as an essential figure in these World Circuit / Nonesuch Cuban recordings.
    
The thrill of improvised jazz has remained Cachaíto's passion and touchstone. As a result, his debut album, Cachaíto, celebrates the spirit of the tumbaos (the name given to the key bass patterns of Cuban popular music, most often used to launch descargas) of his father and uncle. "When I was young," he said, "I watched them working together so closely it was almost impossible to say who contributed what to which tumbao: they seemed to be two heads working as one. I remember how people would come up to the windows of the house and listen in."

Because of this seminal family experience, listening and close interaction were his basic premises. This is what he passed on to the students he taught for 32 years at the Guillermo Tomás Conservatory. "When I played with Orchestra Riverside I had to follow the style of the pianist," he stressed. "Cuban music is very syncopated and he played wild, unexpected, dissonant chords which we call moña. In a sense music making is all listening and watching. As a bassist I think of myself as a colchón—a pillow—always there supporting everything that is happening, always there for the soloists to fall back on."

It was this sensitivity, coupled with having assimilated a myriad of musical styles and experiences over time, that made Cachaíto such a unique musician. His rapport with pianist Rubén González was uncanny. "It's a matter of not leading or going ahead and yet responding immediately to all changes however small," he said. "On the one hand the bass line gives everything cohesion and makes it all work, so you maintain the bass line like a time line; on the other you respond to the inspiration of whoever has the melody which depends very much on their personal style. With Rubén I can see it from the way his hands move and sometimes he gives me a look or a move of the head. When he is really moving he likes a lot of bass so you get this bass-piano dynamic. With Omara there's lots of fílin: she gives me a phrase, I respond and she gets inspired against that. She plays a lot with rhythm, one minute she moves slightly behind then in front, moving around my line. With Ibrahim it is different again."

On Cachaíto’s debut album, the rapport is with percussionist Miguel ‘Angá’ Díaz. This is a "spiritual relationship" and the essential dynamic between the two musicians is the driving force behind Cachaíto. Both musicians shared a knowledge of the orishas (deities) of various Afro-Cuban religions, of their toques the ritual rhythmic patterns and use this vocabulary instinctively in their interchange in the descargas. With this album, Cachaíto moved into the spotlight with a unique album that marks a departure from the other World Circuit Buena Vista series. He fashioned something very personal and unique—a new sound, a new instrumentation and a new approach. It incorporates a wide variety of influences that stretch from dub reggae to jazz and DJ culture, while the music remains essentially Cuban, rooted in the deep tradition of Cuban rhythms. The music on this album was created by an especially assembled group of musicians, with Cachaíto and Angá at its core. Completing the rhythm section is Amadito Valdés on timbales and Carlos González on bongos. Individually, these four musicians were acknowledged masters of their instruments. Together they locked in to form one of the greatest rhythm sections of their time. With Aswad’s Bigga Morrison appearing on Hammond organ, Manuel Galbán on electric guitar, funk legend Pee Wee Ellis on saxophone, and pioneering French DJ Dee Nasty on decks, one can see that this album would defy classification.

The record went on to be a critical success worldwide, with The Times calling it “the most exciting record to come out of Havana since Buena Vista,” and Rolling Stone saying that “Cachaíto carries Cuban music through a time warp.” The response was just as enthusiastic for the live band that went on tour with the album around Europe, the US, and Japan in 2001. The following year got off to a flying start, with Cachaíto winning the Americas category at the inaugural BBC Radio3 Awards for World Music in March 2002.

Unfazed by his solo achievements Cachaíto continued to provide the bass for all of the World Circuit / Nonesuch Cuban recordings, as well as Ibrahim Ferrer’s multi–award winning Buenos Hermanos and Mi Sueño, Omara Portuondo’s second solo album Flor de Amor, the debut solo album from Guajiro Mirabal, and the experimental Echu Mingua from Angá Díaz, which was a continuation of the work begun on Cachaíto’s own album. As part of the Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club touring group also featuring Guajiro Mirabal, Aguajé Ramos, and Manuel Galbán, Cachaíto remained busier than ever, bringing audiences the finest in Cuban music, and showing why he was considered to be one of the greatest bass players in the world.