Buena Vista Club
mainstay
Orlando "Cachaito" Lopez
, who is widely regarded as the best bassist in Cuba, could have taken the safe route and recorded a straightforward collection of
Cuban son
/
Latin jazz
music. The resulting album may have been a bit predictable and mild, but the high level of musicianship would have ensured a quality product, particularly considering the impressive international cast that appears with
Cachaito
on this album. To their credit, however,
and his colleagues were willing to take some chances. Some tracks approach a Cuban version of
dub
music, as Jamaican organist
Bigga Morrison
's Hammond prods or
Cuban surf
guitarist
Manuel Galban
's instrument reverberates while the bottom drops in and out of the mix. French DJ
Dee Nasty
even scratches on
"Cachaito in Laboratory,"
a partially successful experiment that yields interesting results even though it doesn't quite gel with the rest of the album. At times the tracks seem more like studio jams than fully realized songs, but the album's overall feel -- self-assured, relaxed, warm, even somewhat jocular -- is quite appealing. The musicianship, of course, is impeccable, including the amazing rhythm section of
,
Miguel "Anga" Diaz
on congas,
Amadiot Valdes
on timbales, and
Carols Gonzalez
on bongos. Other highlights include
Ibrahim Ferrer
's cameo appearance on
"Wahira,"
the album's only vocal track; the full orchestral string arrangements by
Demetrio Muniz
and horn arrangements by
James Brown
saxophonist
Pee Wee Ellis
; and
"Tumbao No. 5 (Para Charlie Mingus),"
which was inspired by the
Mingus
classic
"Haitian Fight Song."
~ Todd Kristel