Israel López Valdés, better known as Cachao (/kəˈtʃaʊ/ kə-chow; September 14, 1918 – March 22, 2008), was a Cuban double bassist and composer. He is considered one of the most influential charanga bassists of all-time, the co-creator of the mambo and a master of the descarga (improvised Cuban jam sessions). He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and has won several Grammy Awards since the 1990s.

Cachao was born on September 14, 1918 in Belén, a neighbourhood in Old Havana, into a family of musicians, many of them bassists—around 40 or more in his extended family. He was born an raised in the same house José Martí was born.

As an 8-year-old bongo player, he joined a children’s septet that included a future famous singer and bandleader, Roberto Faz. A year later, already on double bass, he provided music for silent movies in his neighborhood theater, in the company of a pianist who would become a true superstar, the great cabaret performer Ignacio Villa, known as Bola de Nieve.

His parents made sure he was classically trained, first at home and then at a conservatory. In his early teens he was already playing contrabass with the Orquesta Filarmónica de La Habana, under the baton of guest conductors including Herbert von Karajan, Igor Stravinsky and Heitor Villa-Lobos. He played with the orchestra from 1930 to 1960.

He played the double bass with his late, older brother, the multi-instrumentalist/composer Orestes López, who was known as “Macho”. The brothers, both members of the charanga Arcaño y sus Maravillas, composed literally thousands of danzones together and were a major influence on Cuban music from the 1930s to the 1950s. They introduced the nuevo ritmo (“new rhythm”) in the late 1930s, which transformed the danzón by introducing African rhythms into Cuban music, which led to mambo. They co-wrote the danzón “Mambo” which was called the “Mother of all Mambos” by Cuban writer G. Cabrera Infante.

He composed “Chanchullo”, a danzón on which “Oye cómo va” is based. “Chanchullo” was released in 1957 as a single by Gema. In 1958, Arcaño y sus Maravillas

One day in 1957 Cachao gathered a group of musicians in the early hours of the morning, energized from playing gigs at Havana’s popular nightclubs, to jam in front of the mics 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 would make live performances of Afro-Cuban based genres, from salsa to Latin jazz, so incredibly hot.

These descargas were released in 1957 by the Panart label under the title Cuban Jam Sessions in Miniature: “Descargas”. They have been named by many critics as one of the most essential Cuban records of the 1950s, including being cited by the book “1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die”. Between 1957 and 1959 he recorded many more descargas in the Panart studios. These recordings were released in the following years by Kubaney and Maype, and re-released by EGREM. He also recorded descargas with Tojo’s orchestra and Chico O’Farrill’s All-Stars Cubano amongst other ensembles. He worked alongside Peruchín, Tata Güines and Alejandro “El Negro” Vivar.

Exile.

In 1961, Cachao went into exile. He crossed the Atlantic by boat, reaching Madrid thanks to Ernesto Duarte, who demanded him to play with his orchestra and where he spent a few years touring the country, until the orchestra finally broke up in 1963. Then he moved to the U.S. as seen in the documentary film La época, Cachao was one of the most in-demand bassists in New York City, together with the likes of Alfonso “El Panameño” Joseph and Bobby “Big Daddy” Rodríguez. Joseph and López substituted for each other over a span of five years, performing at New York City clubs and venues such as the Palladium Ballroom, The Roseland, The Birdland, Havana San Juan and Havana Madrid. While Cachao was performing with Machito’s orchestra in New York, Joseph was recording and performing with Cuban conga player Cándido Camero. When Joseph left Cándido’s band to work with Charlie Rodríguez and Johnny Pacheco, it was Cachao who took his place in Cándido’s band.

For a while, he had two distinct musical personae. In the New York salsa scene he was revered as a music god, with homage concerts dedicated to him, and records of his music produced by musicologist René López in 1977, after over 15 years without recording as a leader. Thanks to López, Cachao was “rediscovered” by the thriving Latin music scene in NYC. Conversely, in Miami, he was an ordinary working musician who would play quinceañeras and weddings, or back dance bands in the notorious Latin nightclubs of the Miami Vice era.

Late career.

In the 1990s, actor Andy García produced the recordings known as Master Sessions and big concerts honoring his legacy. Since then, Cachao became again a household word among Cubans and his reputation continued to grow. His nephew, Orlando “Cachaíto” López, a prolific bassist as well, became one of the mainstays of the famed Buena Vista Social Club group.

Cachao’s music has been featured in movies such as The Birdcage and on the Grand Theft Auto: Vice City soundtrack. Andy García produced two documentaries about this music, Cachao… como su ritmo no hay dos (“With A Rhythm Like No Other”) (1993) and Cachao: Uno más, which premiered in April 2008 at the San Francisco International Film Festival. The inspiration for Cachao: Uno más, made by San Francisco State University’s DOC Film Institute, came largely from a concert Cachao played at Bimbo’s 365 Club in San Francisco, and the film’s premiere was followed by a tribute concert with the John Santos Band at Yoshi’s Jazz Club SF.

Death.

López died on the morning of March 22, 2008 in Coral Gables, Florida, at the age of 89. He died from complications resulting from kidney failure. Following his death, the Cachao’s Mambo All-Stars were formed in his memory. This band, comprising his former bandmates, recorded in his honour.

Awards and recognition.

In 1994, López was inducted into Billboard’s Latin Music Hall of Fame. López has won several Grammy Awards for both his own work and his contributions on albums by Latin music stars, including Gloria Estefan. In 1994, 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 Valdés and Carlos “Patato” Valdés for El arte del sabor. López won a further Grammy in 2005, again for his album ¡Ahora Sí!. In 2012, a posthumously released album, The Last Mambo, won the Grammy Award in the Best Tropical Latin album category.

On June 11, 2006, López was honored by Union City, New Jersey with a star on the Walk of Fame at Union City’s Celia Cruz Park.

http://youtu.be/-znYzFR5CNk

Discography.

1957: Cuban Jam Sessions in Miniature “Descargas” (Panart)
1958: Camina Juan Pescao (Duher)
1958: Con el ritmo de Cachao (Kubaney)
1958: El gran Cachao (Kubaney)
1959: Cuban Music in Jam Session (Bonita)
1961: Descarga (Maype)
1961: Descargas con el ritmo de Cachao (Modiner)
1962: Jam Session With Feeling (Maype)
1971: Cachao te pone a bailar (Teca; archival, recorded 1959-61)
1977: Descarga ’77 (Salsoul)
1977: Dos (Salsoul)
1986: Descarga ’86 (Tania)
1994: Master Sessions, Volume 1 (Crescent Moon)
1995: Master Sessions, Volume 2 (Crescent Moon)
1997: Superdanzones (EGREM; archival, recorded in 1961)
2000: Cuba linda (EMI)
2004: Ahora sí (Univisión)
2007: Jazzcuba, Volumen 2 (Warner Music; archival, recorded 1959-60)
with Bebo Valdés
2011: The Last Mambo (Sony)

http://youtu.be/-Jzl6FHzPyk

Singles.

1957: “La cayuga / Cuarenta que son uno” (Duarte)
1957: “A gozar timbero / Sorpresa de flauta” (Panart)
1957: “Pamparana / Cógele el golpe” (Panart)
1958: “Descarga cubana / Goza mi trompeta” (Capitol)
1961: “Descarga general / El manicero” (Discos Latino)

With All-Stars Cubano

“Descarga número uno / Descarga número dos” (Gema, 1957)
With Arcaño y sus Maravillas
“El que sabe, sabe / Chanchullo” (Gema, 1957)
Tributo a Noro (Alegre, 1964)
With Patato & Totico
Patato y Totico (Verve, 1967)
El arte del sabor (Blue Note, 2001)

Filmography.

Cachao… como su ritmo no hay dos (1993)
Cachao: Uno más (2008)

Agencies/Various/Wiki/InternetPhotos/youtube/thecubanhistory.com
The Cuban History, Hollywood.
Arnoldo Varona, Editor.

Lucie Désirée Arnaz (born July 17, 1951) is an American actress, singer, dancer, and producer. She is the daughter of actors Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, and is the sister of actor Desi Arnaz, Jr.

Lucie Arnaz was born and raised in Los Angeles, and attended the Roman Catholic Immaculate Heart High School.

Career.

Arnaz, her mother Lucille Ball, and her brother Desi, Jr., in Here’s Lucy, 1968.
Having had walk-on parts in her mother’s television series The Lucy Show, Arnaz made her first acting appearance in a continuing role in the series Here’s Lucy from 1968 to 1974. She played Kim Carter, the daughter of the eponymous Lucy—who was played by Arnaz’s real-life mother, Lucille Ball.

Arnaz branched out into television roles independent of her family from the mid-1970s. In 1975, she played infamous murder victim Elizabeth Short in a production of Who is the Black Dahlia?, while in 1978, she appeared in an episode of Fantasy Island as a woman desperately trying to save her marriage. She has continued to make appearances in a number of popular television series over the years, including Murder, She Wrote, Marcus Welby M.D., Sons and Daughters, and Law & Order. Arnaz also briefly had a series of her own, The Lucie Arnaz Show, in 1985.

She has also had a lengthy career in musical theatre. In the summer of 1978, she played the title role in Annie Get Your Gun at the Jones Beach Theatre on Long Island. This was the first production at Jones Beach Theatre after the death of longtime producer Guy Lombardo. She made her Broadway debut in 1979 in the musical They’re Playing Our Song. Arnaz won the Theatre World Award and the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her portrayal of Sonia Walsk in the show. In 1986, she won the Sarah Siddons Award for her tour with Tommy Tune in the international company of the musical My One and Only. She has numerous other theater and musical credits both in the United States and abroad, including roles in Seesaw, Annie Get Your Gun, Whose Life Is It Anyway?, The Guardsman, The Wizard of Oz in Concert: Dreams Come True, Sonia Flew, The Witches of Eastwick, Vanities, Neil Simon’s Lost in Yonkers, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, and Terence McNally’s Master Class.

Arnaz also made some feature film appearances, the most prominent of which was 1980’s The Jazz Singer, in which she co-starred with singer Neil Diamond and renowned actor Laurence Olivier. She earned a Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe nomination for her work in the film.

She won an Emmy Award in 1993 for her documentary Lucy and Desi: A Home Movie.
In the summer of 2010, Arnaz performed in (along with Raul Esparza and Valarie Pettiford) and directed “Babalu: A Celebration of the Music of Desi Arnaz and his Orchestra”. There was a Miami, Florida performance in July 2010.

Other activities.

From about 2002 to 2007, Arnaz was the President of the Board of Directors of the Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Center in Jamestown, New York. She resigned over a dispute with the Executive Director over the future direction of the Center.

In October 2008, Arnaz and long-time family friend, Hollywood columnist and Turner Classic Movies host Robert Osborne participated in a tribute to Arnaz’s mother, Lucille Ball, at The Paley Center For Media in New York City. The program, Lucie and Lucy: Lucie Arnaz Shares Treasures From The Family Video Collection, included a discussion between Osborne and Arnaz about Ball, and also focused on Ball’s last long-running series, Here’s Lucy (which was celebrating its 40th anniversary) as well as several of Ball’s television specials and guest appearances during the 1970s, which Arnaz had recently donated to The Paley Center for Media.

On July 17, 2010, Heritage Auction Galleries planned to auction off some items that belonged to Lucille Ball. Arnaz has gone to court to block the auction of love letters from Ball to her second husband, Gary Morton, as well as photos and awards, which Arnaz claims are hers. Morton’s third wife, Susan McAllister Morton, had sued Arnaz for the right to conduct the auction. A judge agreed with Arnaz, but charged too high a bond, so the auction went on but the auction house agreed to return lifetime achievement awards to Arnaz.

She appeared live on stage in Jamestown, New York at the Reg Lenna Palace Civic Center on Friday August 3, 2012 to promote the Lucille Ball Festival of New Comedy in which new comedians are invited to perform. She gave tribute to both her parents, and expressed a desire to further expand the Festival of New Comedy and expand the Jamestown New York Lucy Fest. She gave the history behind the Lucy-Desi Museum and Lucy-Desi Playhouse, and the 2011 one hundred year birthday bash for Lucille Ball (which was recorded in the Guinness Book of World records for the highest number of people dressed like Lucille Ball in one place at one time), and announced intent to start utilizing the recently renovated Jamestown train station to further the mission and vision of the Lucille Ball Festival of New Comedy. Lucie Arnaz praised and appeared on stage with the new executive director of The Lucille Ball Desi Arnaz Center and applauded her work and dedication to the Lucille Ball Festival of New Comedy. Comedians that performed at the 2012 Lucille Ball Festival of New Comedy included Billy Gardell, Paula Poundstone and Tammy Pescatelli.

Personal life.

She has been twice married, to actor Phil Vandervort (July 17, 1971 – 1977) and Laurence Luckinbill (June 22, 1980 – present), who is the uncle of Lana and Andy Wachowski.

She and actor-writer Luckinbill have three children together: Simon, Joseph and Katharine. Luckinbill has two sons from his previous marriage: Nicholas and Benjamin.

She shares a birthday with her uncle, her mother’s brother, Fred Ball.

Stage.

They’re Playing Our Song
My One and Only
Lost in Yonkers
Seesaw
Vanities
Master Class
The Witches of Eastwick
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Pippin

Filmography.

Billy Jack Goes to Washington (1977)
A Different Approach (1978) (short subject)
The Jazz Singer (1980)
Second Thoughts (1983)
Down to You (2000)
Wild Seven (2006)
The Pack (2010)
The Thought Exchange (2012)

Television.

The Lucy Show (1962-1963)- Cynthia
Here’s Lucy (1968–1974)- Kim Carter
The Wonderful World of Disney: Welcome to the “World” (1975)
Who Is the Black Dahlia? (1975)- Elizabeth Short
Marcus Welby, M.D. (1975)
Death Scream (1975)
Fantasy Island (1978)
The Mating Season (1980)
Washington Mistress (1982)
The Lucie Arnaz Show (1985)
Murder, She Wrote (1988)
Who Gets the Friends? (1988)
Sons and Daughters (1991)
Abduction of Innocence: A Moment of Truth Movie (1996)
Law & Order – episode “Bitch”, as Jackie Scott, a cosmetics mogul (2003).

Agencies/Various/Wiki/InternetPhotos/youtube/thecubanhistory.com
The Cuban History, Hollywood.
Arnoldo Varona, Editor.