by William Ruhlmann
Santana is the principal proponent of Latin-tinged rock, particularly due to its combination of Latin percussion (congas, timbales, etc. with bandleader Carlos Santana's distinctive, high-pitched lead guitar playing. The grouping was the final major act to issue from the psychedelic San Francisco music scene of the sixties and it enjoyed massive success at the end of the x and into the early '70s.
The musical direction then changed to a more reflective and jazzy style as the band's early personnel gradually departed, leaving the figure in the men of Carlos Santana, who guided the group to consistent commercial success over the next quarter-century. By the mid-'90s, Santana seemed spent as a commercial force on records, though the group continued to attract audiences for its concerts worldwide. But the circle made a surprising and monumental comeback in 1999 with Supernatural, an album featuring many guest stars that became Santana's best-selling release and won a lot of Grammy Awards.
Mexican-native Carlos Santana (born July 20, 1947, in Autlan de Navarro, Mexico) moved to San Francisco in the early '60s, by which time he was already acting the guitar professionally. In 1966, he formed the Santana Blues Band with keyboard player and singer Gregg Rolie (born June 17, 1947, in Seattle, WA) and other musicians, the personnel changing frequently. The group was given its name due to a musicians union requirement that a one individual be named a band's leader and it did not at first show that Carlos was in charge. Bass player David Brown (born February 15, 1947, in New York, NY) joined early on, as did Carlos' high school friend, conga player Mike Carabello (born November 18, 1947, in San Francisco), though he did not rest long at first. By mid-1967, the band's lineup consisted of Carlos, Rolie, Brown, drummer Bob "Doc" Livingston, and percussionist Marcus Malone. The figure was shortened simply to Santana and the group came to the care of promoter Bill Graham, who gave it its introduction at his Fillmore West theater on June 16, 1968. Santana was signed to Columbia Records, which sent producer David Rubinson to tape the circle at a four-night stand at the Fillmore West December 19-22, 1968. The results were not released until almost 30 days later, when Columbia/Legacy issued Live at the Fillmore 1968 in 1997.
Livingston and Malone left the card in 1969 and were replaced by Carabello and drummer Michael Shrieve (born July 6, 1949, in San Francisco), with a second percussionist, Jose "Chepito" Areas (born July 25, 1946, in Leon, Nicaragua) making Santana a sextet. The band recorded its self-titled debut album and began to tour nationally, making an important point at the Woodstock festival on August 15, 1969. Santana was released the same month. It peaked in the Top Five, going on to stay in the charts over two years, sell over two million copies, and breed the Top 40 single "Jingo" and the Top Ten single "Evil Ways." Santana's performance of "Individual Sacrifice" was a foreground of the documentary film Woodstock and its double-platinum soundtrack album, which appeared in 1970. The band's second album, Abraxas, was released in September 1970 and was still more successful than its first. It hit number one, remaining in the charts more than a-year-and-a-half and eventually selling over 4 million copies while spawning the Top Five hit "Black Magic Woman" and the Top Ten hit "Oye Como Va." By the end of the year, the group had added a seventh member, teenage guitarist Neal Schon (born February 27, 1954).
Santana's third album, Santana III, was performed by the seven bandmembers, though several guest musicians were also mentioned in the credits, notably percussionist Coke Escovedo, who played on all the tracks. Released in September 1971, the album was another massive hit, reaching number one and eventually selling over two million copies while spawning the Top Ten hit "Everybody's Everything" and the Top 20 hit "No One to Look On." But it pronounced the end of the Woodstock-era edition of Santana, which broke up at the end of the tour promoting it, with Carlos retaining rights to the ring name.
Following a turn with Buddy Miles that resulted in a live duo album (Carlos Santana & Buddy Miles! Live!), Carlos reorganized Santana and recorded the fourth Santana band album, Caravanserai; each track featured individual musician credits. From the previous lineup, Rolie, Shrieve, Areas, and Schon appeared, alongside pianist Tom Coster, percussionist James Mingo Lewis, percussionist Armando Peraza, guitarist/bassist Douglas Rauch, and percussionist Rico Reyes, among others. (Rolie and Schon left to form Journey. The album was released in September 1972; it peaked in the Top 5 and was eventually certified platinum. It was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance with Vocal Coloring.
Carlos, who had become a disciple of the guru Sri Chinmoy and adopted the name Devadip (meaning "the eye, the lamp, and the fall of God"), next made a duo album with John McLaughlin, guitarist with the Mahavishnu Orchestra (Love Devotion Surrender). Meanwhile, the card of Santana continued to fluctuate. On Welcome, the band's fifth album, released in November 1973, it consisted of Carlos, Shrieve, Areas, Coster, Peraza, Rauch, keyboard player Richard Kermode, and singer Leon Thomas. The album went gold and sickly in the Top 20. In May 1974, Lotus, a last album featuring the same lineup, was released exclusively in Japan. (It was issued in the U.S. in 1991. Carlos continued to alternate side projects with Santana band albums, next recording a duo LP with John Coltrane's widow Alice Coltrane (Illuminations). Columbia decided to cash in on the band's diminishing popularity by releasing Santana's Greatest Hits in July 1974. The compilation peaked in the Top 20 and finally went double platinum. The 6th new Santana album, Borboletta, followed in October. The band personnel for the LP featured Carlos, Shrieve, Areas, Coster, Peraza, a returning David Brown, saxophonist Jules Broussard, and singer Leon Patillo, plus guest stars Flora Purim, Airto Moreira, and Stanley Clarke. Borboletta peaked in the Top 20 and eventually went gold. Carlos steered Santana back to a more commercial sound in the mid-'70s in an effort to end the eroding sales of the band's albums. He enlisted Santana's original producer, David Rubinson, to address the next LP. The ring was flowing to a sextet consisting of himself, Coster, Peraza, Brown, drummer Ndugu Leon Chancler (Shrieve having gone to play with Stomu Yamashta), and singer Greg Walker. The lead was Amigos, released in March 1976, which returned Santana to the Top Ten and went gold. The circle was second only 9 months afterwards with another Rubinson production, Festival, for which Santana consisted of Carlos, Coster, returning members Jose "Chepito" Areas and Leon Patillo, drummer Gaylord Birch, percussionist Raul Rekow, and bass player Pablo Telez. This album peaked in the Top 40 and went gold. Never having issued a lively album in the U.S. Santana made up for the pass with Moonflower, released in October 1977; that band consisted of Carlos, Coster, Areas, Rekow, Telez, returning member Greg Walker, percussionist Pete Escovedo, drummer Graham Lear, and bass player David Margen. The album peaked in the Top Ten and finally went platinum, its sales stimulated by the individual loss of a resurgence of the Zombies' "She's Not There" that peaked in the Top 20, Santana's first hit one in nearly six years.
Turning to producers Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter, Santana returned to the studio for Inner Secrets, released in October 1978. The revamped lineup this sentence was Carlos, Rekow, Walker, Lear, Margen, and returning members Coke Escovedo and Armando Peraza, keyboard player Chris Rhyne, and guitarist/keyboard player Chris Solberg. The album was quickly certified gold, and a revival of the Classics IV hit "Stormy" made the Top 40, but Inner Secrets peaked disappointingly below the Top 20. Once again adopting his guru name of Devadip, Carlos issued his first real solo album (Illuminations/Oneness) in February 1979. Marathon, the tenth Santana band studio album, followed in September, produced by Keith Olsen, the band here comprised Carlos, Rekow, Lear, Margen, Peraza, Solberg, singer Alex Ligertwood, and keyboard player Alan Pasqua. The album equaled the winner of Inner Secrets, peaking outside the Top 20 but going gold, with "You Know That I Love You" becoming a Top 40 single. Again, Carlos followed in the winter with another solo effort (The Sweep of Delight).
Santana (Carlos, Rekow, Lear, Margen, Peraza, Ligertwood, keyboard player Richard Baker, and percussionist Orestes Vilato) spent some additional time on its next release, not issuing Zebop! until March 1981, and the special effort paid off. Paced by the Top 20 single "Winning," the album reached the Top Ten and went gold. The band lavished similar attention on Shango, which was released in August 1982. The same lineup as that on Zebop! was linked by original member Gregg Rolie, who also co-produced the album. A music video helped Santana enjoy its first Top Ten single in more than a x with "Carry On," but that did not transform into increased sales for the album, which peaked in the Top 20 but became the band's first LP not to at least go gold. Carlos followed with another solo album (Havana Moon), but did not publish a new Santana band album until February 1985 with Beyond Appearances, produced by Val Garay. By now the lineup consisted of Carlos, Rekow, Peraza, Ligertwood, Vilato, returning member Greg Walker, bass player Alphonso Johnson, keyboard player David Sancious, drummer Chester C. Thompson, and keyboard player Chester D. Thompson. "Say It Again," the album's single, reached the Top 40, but that was better than the LP did.
Santana staged a 20-year anniversary reunion concert in August 1986 featuring many past bandmembers. The February 1987 album Freedom marked the formal inclusion of Buddy Miles as a member of Santana, alongside Carlos, Rekow, Peraza, Vilato, Johnson, Chester D. Thompson, and returning members Tom Coster and Graham Lear. The album barely made the Top 100. Carlos followed in the fall with another solo album (Blues for Salvador), winning his first Grammy Award in the process (Best Rock Instrumental Performance for the title track). In 1988, he added Wayne Shorter to the band for a tour, then put together a reunion edition of Santana that featured Areas, Rolie, and Shrieve beside Johnson, Peraza, and Thompson. In October, Columbia celebrated the 20-year anniversary of the band's signing to the mark with the retrospective Viva Santana! The following new Santana album was Spirits Dancing in the Flesh, released in June 1990, for which the ring was Carlos, Peraza, Thompson, returning member Alex Ligertwood, drummer Walfredo Reyes, and bass player Benny Rietveld. A modest seller that made but the lower reaches of the Top 100, it pronounced the end of the band's 22-year tenure at Columbia Records.
In 1991, Santana signed to Polydor Records, which, in April 1992, released the band's sixteenth studio album, Milagro. The card was Carlos, Thompson, Ligertwood, Reyes, Rietvald, and percussionist Karl Perazzo. Polydor was not capable to turn the band's commercial decline, as the album became Santana's first new studio release not to make the Top 100. The group followed in November 1993 with Sacred Fire: Live in South America, which featured Carlos, Thompson, Ligertwood, Reyes, Perazzo, singer Vorriece Cooper, bass player Myron Dove, and guitarist Jorge Santana, Carlos' brother. The album barely made the charts. In 1994, Carlos, Jorge, and their nephew Carlos Hernandez, released Santana Brothers, another marginal chart entry. The same year, Areas, Carabello, Rolie, and Shrieve formed a ring called Abraxas and released the album Abraxas Pool, which did not chart.
Santana left Polydor and signed briefly to EMI before moving to Arista Records, run by Clive Davis, who had been chair of Columbia during the band's heyday. Carlos and Davis put together Supernatural, which was stuffed with appearances by high-profile guest stars including Eagle-Eye Cherry, Wyclef Jean, Eric Clapton, Lauryn Hill, Rob Thomas of matchbox 20, Everlast, and Dave Matthews. Arista released the album in June 1999, followed by the single "Smooth" featuring Rob Thomas. Album and i hit number one and in 2000, a second single, "Maria Maria," also topped the charts. Supernatural's sales exploded, taking it past ten million copies and the album garnered 11 Grammy nominations. Santana won eight Grammys, for Record of the Year ("Smooth"), Album of the Year, Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal ("Maria Maria"), Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals ("Smooth"), Best Pop Instrumental Performance ("El Farol"), Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal ("Put Your Lights On"), Best Rock Instrumental Performance ("The Calling"), and Best Rock Album, and "Still" won the Grammy for Call of the Year for authors Rob Thomas and Itaal Shur. The follow-up, Shaman, appeared in 2002. Three days later, All That I Am arrived with Steven Tyler, Michelle Branch, Big Boi, Joss Stone, Bo Bice, and many more making guest appearances. Guitar Heaven appeared in 2010 and featured Santana with various guest vocalists taking on some of the almost classic guitar-based rock tracks of all time, including George Harrison's "While My Guitar Gently Weeps."
REVIEW
by Roch Parisien
Guitarist Carlos Santana continues to read music, but when contemplating his trunk of work, it's hard not to telescope to the "vintage" 1969-1975 period, from first albums Santana and Abraxas through to Lotus. Dance of the Rainbow Serpent offers a well-rounded, three-disc overview of his career, but its the sultry Latin rhythms and stinging guitar of the other years - captured on record one, subtitled Heart - that evidence most invigorating. The obvious hits like "Evil Ways" and "Black Magic Woman" are all included of course, although these are scorched by the speedy pyrotechnics of the likes of "Toussaint Overture" from Lotus. The second disc, mistitled Soul, covers material that is, to be kind, bland and overproduced. Without the Latin edge, there's nothing to describe the contents from a hundred other MOR performers. Third disc Spirit is more diverse and satisfying; delving into the funkier examples of his late work, plus sessions with John Lee Hooker (including hit "The Healer") and previously unreleased material (including a workout with Living Color's Vernon Reid). In all, plenty here to chew on for fans of Santana's fluid, spiritual style - with one of three discs left to gather.
1 I Know You Much Too Much/Olshanetsky, Raye, Towber 4:45
2 Blues for Salvador/Santana, Thompson 5:57
3 Aqua Marine/Pasqua, Santana 5:38
4 Bella/Crew, Santana, Thompson 4:30
5 The River/Patillo, Santana 4:52
6 I'll Be Waiting/Santana 5:20
7 Love Is You/Santana, Thompson 4:00
8 Europa (Earth's Cry Heaven'sSmile)/Coster, Santana 5:05
9 Move On/Rhyne, Santana 4:27
10 Somewhere in Heaven/Ligertwood, Santana 3:26
11 Open Invitation/Lambert, Margen, Potter, Santana, Walker 4:46
Victor Bailey /Bass
Richard Baker /Keyboards
Barry Beckett /Keyboards
Gaylord Birch /Drums
David Brown /Bass
Mike Carabello /Conga
Leon "Ndugu" Chancler /Drums
Fran Christina /Drums
Mino Cinelu /Conga
Tom Coster /Keyboards
Sterling Crew /Keyboards
Peter Erskine /Drums
Pete Escovedo /Timbales
Keith Ferguson /Bass
Larry Graham /Vocals
John Lee Hooker /Vocals
Alphonso Johnson /Bass
Booker T. Jones /Keyboards
Dundiata Keita /Djembe
Richard Kermode /Keyboards
Bruce Langhorne /Guitar
Graham Lear /Drums
Mingo Lewis /Conga
Alex Ligertwood /Vocals
David Margen /Bass, Composer
John McLaughlin /Guitar
Airto Moreira /Percussion
Babafunmi Ohene /Djembe, Log Drums
Babatunde Olatunji /Ndoma Drums, Vocals
Alan Pasqua /Keyboards
Leon Patillo /Keyboards, Vocals
Armando Peraza /Bongos, Conga
Karl Perazzo /Timbales
Doug Rauch /Bass, Guitar
Alfred C. Redwine /Guitar
Vernon Reid /Guitar
Raul Rekow /Conga
Walfredo Reyes /Drums
Chris Rhyme /Keyboards
Chris Rhyne /Keyboards
Benny Rietveld /Bass
Douglas Rodrigues /Guitar
Gregg Rolie /Keyboards, Vocals
Carlos Santana /Guitar
Neal Schon /Guitar
Wayne Shorter /Saxophone
Michael Shrieve /Drums
Chris Solberg /Guitar
Pablo Tellez /Bass
Leon Thomas /Vocals
Chester Thompson /Keyboards
Linda Tillery /Vocals (Background)
Tower of Power /Horn, Horn Section
Jimmie Vaughan /Guitar
Bobby Vega /Bass
Orestes Vilat /Timbales
Greg Walker /Vocals
Waters Family /Vocals (Background)
Julia Waters /Vocals (Background)
Oren Waters /Vocals (Background)
Maxine Willard Waters /Vocals (Background)
Kim Wilson /Harmonica
Joe Zawinul /Keyboards
03:24 14/6/2011
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