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Most of the obits I’ve seen in the past couple of days have given him credit for helping invent the mambo, which is somewhat accurate. According to Cuban music authority Ned Sublette, who called Cachao “arguably the most important bassist in twentieth-century popular music,” Lopez joined Arcaño y Sus Maravillas–one of the best charanga bands the island ever produced, led by the great flutist Antonio Arcaño–in 1937, at just 19, and there helped develop a tune written by his piano-playing brother Orestes “Macho” Lopez called “Mambo.” The tune, a danzon, included a tough, fast repeating instrumental section that was dubbed a mambo, but the mambo as we know it–particularly through the diamond-hard music of Perez Prado–wouldn’t emerge till about a decade later, and it was far more elaborate and layered.
Today’s playlist:
