‘Cachaito’ Leaves Lab at Home

When Orlando “Cachaito” Lopez recently broke away from the fabled Buena Vista Social Club, he was hailed as the harbinger of new directions in Afro-Cuban music. His self-titled album, released by World Circuit in May, offered a persuasive, postmodern pastiche of traditional drumming, dub and snazzy scratching.

The bassist’s musical experiment was a welcome relief from the charming but unchallenging nostalgia of Buena Vista and its predictable spinoffs. Adventurous listeners asked with delight: How did he get that alluring new sound?

The answer became obvious during Cachaito’s performance Tuesday, the first of two nights at the Knitting Factory Hollywood. He got it by tinkering in a recording studio, not by playing before a live audience.

In his opening 90-minute set, Cachaito and his tight, nine-man unit failed to replicate the album’s fanciful labyrinth of sounds or its wondrous sense of exploration. Stripped of layers of overdubs and electronic trickery, his brave new salsa was basically good ol’ Latin jazz with a dash of atmospherics.

OK, very good Latin jazz. Cachaito squeezed rich, clean tones from his upright bass, displaying the Lopez family pedigree (which includes his father, Orestes, and his uncle, Israel, the famous Cachao). He interacted playfully with acclaimed percussionist Miguel “Anga” Diaz, who can coax so many sounds from a conga you’d swear the drum’s hide was still on the goat. Also outstanding: Yaure Muniz on trumpet and Manuel Galban on electric guitar. The night’s aural novelties came courtesy of Jamaican Bigga Morrison on Hammond organ and DJ Dee Nasty doing his herky-jerky high jinks on dual Technics turntables.

Cachaito may have taken the musical road less traveled, but fans have yet to follow. The early show Tuesday drew a sparse crowd, including guitarist Ry Cooder, the Buena Vista mentor and producer, watching from the balcony.

Afro-Cuban music has a long history of organically absorbing disparate musical elements, reflecting the natural interaction of people and cultures. But in person, Cachaito’s new mix seemed suddenly like a stunt. Fittingly, the set closed with “Cachaito in Laboratory,” a title that reminds us exactly where this new fusion was created.