Search - Cachao :: Master Session 2

Better than Volume I

Andy Orrock | Dallas, TX | 10/10/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Usually, when you pick up a CD by Artist X emblazoned with "Volume II," you expect: okay, here are the tunes that weren't good enough to make the first cut, and since the first CD was a success and we've already got these additional tunes in the can, let's make a few more bucks off this deal.Thankfully, this is far from the truth with Cuban bassist Israel Lopez, a.k.a. 'Cachao,' producer Andy Garcia (yes, *that* Andy Garcia), and executive producer Emilio Estevez, Jr. While I never really connected with Volume I, this 1995 release of Volume II is something I have played over and over and over again. That's really saying something about the quality of Vol. II, since Vol. I was, after all, nothing short of a Grammy award-winning release.Unluckily, this CD came out right around the same time as almost simultaneous releases from Buena Vista Social Club, Afro-Cuban All-Stars, and pianist Ruben Gonzalez. So Cachao, Vol. II got a little buried in the wave of publicity that accompanied all that. But the good news for the hundreds of thousands - if not millions - of fans of those releases is what a surprise you have waiting for you with Cachao, Master Sessions Vol. II. It's the perfect background music for your next little get-together."

Absolutely marvelous

sexyfish@msn.com | Chicago | 09/27/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"As a latina woman, Cachao brings us back to our roots. Africa. He incorporates everything from heavy percussions to african chants. It makes you want to dance, dance, dance!!!!!!!!!!"

Quite simply, a genuis

Andy Orrock | 09/04/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I am hardly an expert, and only know what I enjoy; but it is quite cleat that Cachao has great musical imagination. Is that Cuban klezmer on the opening track?"