Jazz Articles about Carlos Santana

Top Ten Kennedy Center Musical Moments

by Alan Bryson
July 10, 2021

It's a good bet that most of us have heard people say they don't like jazz, or even worse, drop the H-bomb: “I hate jazz." If you choose to engage them, the key is to tread lightly and tailor an approach that considers their tastes and sensibilities. This So You Don't Like Jazz column explores ways to do just that. One particularly effective approach is to ignore labels and concentrate on the joy of music. To that end, ...

For Those Who Chant

by Peter J. Hoetjes
April 24, 2020

Luis Gasca was one of the hottest trumpet players in California during the 1970s, recording a handful of albums fueled by the drugs, the culture, and the excitement of that time and place. Though they all featured large ensembles, only one of them allowed some of the era's most legendary musicians to blur the lines separating jazz, latin, and rock and roll. “Everyone should have two favorite cities; their own and San Francisco," claimed Gasca. It was there, ...

Santana Live At US Festival

by Doug Collette
September 7, 2019

Santana Live At US Festival Shout! Factory 2019 The Carlos Santana appearing at the US Festival in 1982 is not the same hungry street urchin transformed by the music he made early in his career with the band under his name. Since the galvanizing breakthrough at Woodstock in 1969, the group had changed with its leader, navigating through a jazz fusion landscape only to return, by this time over a decade later, to a more ...

Light of the Supreme: Carlos Santana’s Devadip Trilogy

by Rob Caldwell
August 15, 2015

To the casual music fan in 1971 Carlos Santana appeared as if he was on top of the world. His band's appearance at Woodstock two short years earlier, plus their cover of Fleetwood Mac's “Black Magic Woman" had catapulted him to stardom. Yet, behind the scenes, his band was splintering. Different musical and personal objectives, plus the increased usage of hard drugs by some band members were getting in the way. By the end of the year, bassist David Brown, ...

Welcome

by Jeff Winbush
August 4, 2012

Once upon a time there was a guitar god who had grown bored with all his fame, riches and glory. He longed for something more than another multi-platinum selling record. He desired not simply acclaim, but respect. He knew to get it he would have to walk away from the distinctive style that made him popular and wealthy. It was a risk to confuse his band and his fans by making a radical change in his musical direction. But he ...

Santana Remasters

by Doug Collette
November 21, 2003

The original Santana band achieved huge commercial success through the fiery fusion of rock, blues and Latin musics. As Carlos Santana evolved as a musician, he took the group into equally interesting directions with often equally fascinating results, even if those projects didn’t match up to the first three albums’ impact in terms of sales.

Listeners who found the guitar interplay between Santana and young Neal Schon one of the highlights of the third Santana album no doubt found the ...