September 2002
H.E.A.R. honors Santana
Santana is the primary exponent 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 group was the last major act to emerge
from the psychedelic San Francisco music scene of the 1960s
and it enjoyed massive success at the end of the decade and
into the early '70s. The musical direction then changed to
a more contemplative and jazzy style as the band's early personnel
gradually departed, leaving the name in the hands 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 band
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 raft 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 playing 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 single person be named a band's leader and it did not
at first indicate 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 Michael
Carabello (born November 18, 1947, in San Francisco), though
he did not stay long at first. By mid-1967, the band's lineup
consisted of Carlos, Rolie, Brown, drummer Bob "Doc" Livingston,
and percussionist Marcus Malone. The name was shortened simply
to Santana and the group came to the attention of promoter
Bill Graham, who gave it its debut at his Fillmore West theater
on June 16, 1968. Santana was signed to Columbia Records,
which sent producer David Rubinson to tape the band at a four-night
stand at the Fillmore West December 19-22, 1968. The results
were not released until almost 30 years later, when Columbia/Legacy
issued Live at the Fillmore 1968 in 1997. Livingston and Malone
left the lineup 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 stop at the Woodstock
festival on August 15, 1969. Santana was released the same
month. It peaked in the Top Five, going on to remain in the
charts over two years, sell over two million copies, and spawn
the Top 40 single "Jingo" and the Top Ten single "Evil Ways."
Santana's performance of "Soul Sacrifice" was a highlight
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 even more successful than its first. It hit number
one, remaining in the charts more than a year and a half and
eventually selling over four 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 band members, 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 Depend On." But it marked 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 band name.
Following a tour 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,
on which 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 Five 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 light
of God"), next made a duo album with John McLaughlin, guitarist
with the Mahavishnu Orchestra (Love Devotion Surrender). Meanwhile,
the lineup 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 peaked in the Top 20. In May 1974,
Lotus, a live album featuring the same lineup, was released
only 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 eventually
went double platinum.
The sixth 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 attempt
to stop the eroding sales of the band's albums. He enlisted
Santana's original producer, David Rubinson, to handle the
next LP. The band was streamlined to a sextet consisting of
himself, Coster, Peraza, Brown, drummer Ndugu Leon Chancler
(Shrieve having departed to work with Stomu Yamashta), and
singer Greg Walker. The result was Amigos, released in March
1976, which returned Santana to the Top Ten and went gold.
The band was back only nine months later 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 live album in the U.S., Santana
made up for the lapse with Moonflower, released in October
1977, for which the 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 eventually went
platinum, its sales stimulated by the single release of a
revival of the Zombies' "She's Not There" that peaked in the
Top 20, Santana's first hit single 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 time was Carlos, Rekow, Walker,
Lear, Margen, 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 (Oneness/Silver Dreams - Golden
Reality) in February 1979. Marathon, the tenth Santana band
studio album, followed in September, produced by Keith Olsen,
the band here being Carlos, Rekow, Lear, Margen, Peraza, Solberg,
singer Alex Ligertwood, and keyboard player Alan Pasqua. The
album equaled the success 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 Swing of Delight). Santana (Carlos,
Rekow, Lear, Margen, Peraza, Ligertwood, keyboard player Richard
Baker, and percussionist Orestes Vilato) spent some extra
time on its next release, not issuing Zebop! until March 1981,
and the extra 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 joined
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 decade with "Hold On," but that did not translate
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 release 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 label with the retrospective
Viva Santana!
The next new Santana album was Spirits Dancing in the Flesh,
released in June 1990, for which the band was Carlos, Peraza,
Thompson, returning member Alex Ligertwood, drummer Walfredo
Reyes, and bass player Benny Rietveld. A modest seller that
made only the lower reaches of the Top 100, it marked 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 16th studio album, Milagro. The lineup was Carlos,
Thompson, Ligertwood, Reyes, Rietvald, and percussionist Karl
Perazzo. Polydor was not able to reverse the band's commercial
decline, as the album became Santana's first new studio release
not to reach 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 band 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 president
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 single 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 "Smooth"
won the Grammy for Song of the Year for authors Rob Thomas
and Itaal Shur. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
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