Cuban Jam Sessions in Miniature
| Cuban Jam Sessions in Miniature | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
||||
| Studio album by Cachao | ||||
| Released | 1957 | |||
| Recorded | 1957 | |||
| Studio | Panart Studios, Havana | |||
| Genre | Descarga | |||
| Length | 34:34 | |||
| Label | Panart | |||
| Cachao chronology | ||||
|
||||
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   |
Cuban Jam Sessions in Miniature is the debut album by Cuban double bassist Cachao, released in 1957 by Panart. The album is composed of descargas, improvised jam sessions with Cuban themes. It was the fourth installment in Panart's Cuban Jam Session series after Julio Gutiérrez's Cuban Jam Session Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, and Niño Rivera's Vol. 3. Unlike the other installments, Cachao's session comprised short improvisations instead of extended jams. The album sold over a million copies and became "a Latin music milestone". In 2013, it was induced into the Latin Grammy Hall of Fame and the National Recording Registry.
Israel López, better known as Cachao, and his brother Orestes López, nicknamed Macho, were founding members of Cuba's most popular charanga during the late 1930s and 1940s, Arcaño y sus Maravillas, directed by flautist Antonio Arcaño. The repertoire of the group consisted almost exclusively of compositions by the López brothers. Cachao played double bass, whereas Orestes performed on the piano, double bass and cello. They became key innovators of the danzón genre, creating the danzón nuevo ritmo, which led to the mambo in the 1940s and chachacha in the 1950s.
Apart from charangas, Cuban music in the 1940s saw the rise of conjuntos which specialized in son cubano and big bands which played all types of ballroom music from upbeat guarachas to boleros and mambos. With the advent of the filin movement, it became common for artists to improvise extended sessions of boleros and sones, which became known as descargas. In addition, by the early 1950s, jazz was already an important influence on Cuban musicians, and in 1952 Norman Granz recorded pianist Bebo Valdés in an improvised jam session in Havana, based more on Afro-Cuban jazz in the vein of Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker, than son cubano. However, the rise of the descarga genre came in 1956 with Panart's initiative to record jam sessions directed by pianist Julio Gutiérrez. The success of his two albums (Cuban Jam Session Vol. 1 and Vol. 2) led Panart to record a third session directed by tresero Niño Rivera in 1957. The same year, Cachao was called up to record his own sessions. At the time, Las Maravillas were no longer an active band, only recording under Cachao's direction, and they would give their final concert shortly after in 1958. The album was recorded at Panart Studios in Havana for five hours starting at 4 AM after all the musicians had finished their regular nightclub performances.
...
Wikipedia