The Official Carlos Santana thread. (The place for all things Carlos)

matonanjin said:
Santana - Cover article of February issue Premier Guitar!

"Feedback is good for you! The legend says the world needs to be “far out,” and he’s cut a new album, Blessings and Miracles, to take it there. He talks about his fabled tone, advice from Miles Davis, his search for universal melodies, and stepping outside the cage."

It is an interesting, five page article. Probably not much new for us Carlos disciples/students but still interesting. Talking about his tone, "I need four or five microphones on my amp in a room: one in front, one behind, one above, one right on the speaker and one as far away as possible.....I go to each microphone and adjust the position until I get it right".

The last paragraph is pure Santanaese:
He continues: "How do you get into a solo that's in the same place Charlie Parker, Beethoven, or Stravinsky would go to? We can get to that same place. It's called The Sanctum-of-My-Intelligence Hang-Out. People say to me, "That's far-out, dude! How do I get there?' Practice removing your mind from the room and allow your light-spirit and soul to create music outside of gravity and time. You have to get out of the cage and dive into the unknown and the unpredictable"

SantanaFebrPremier.jpg
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How considerate! Santana knows how the headstock on his guitar offends @Boogie he’s covered it up (double FNAR).
 
I celebrate his Bday by listening to one of his rarest recordings, Oneness, a fusion album that few know of or heard, but I consider one of his best, and a strong inspiration for me (at the time) to take the guitar seriously.

(*complete album playlist on YT if you click on the title)
 
OMG! You @Huggy B ! Oneness!!! Silver Dreams Golden Reality! Yes Yes Yes I'm going to find that LP today and play it. And THEN!!! Carlos w/Gato Barbieri! You set the bar high. I was very saddened when I learned of Gato's passing recently. If there was any artist whose music approached how often I played Carlos' music it was Gato

OK. I see your two. I check with :
Bella

 
matonanjin said:
OMG! You @Huggy B ! Oneness!!! Silver Dreams Golden Reality! Yes Yes Yes I'm going to find that LP today and play it. And THEN!!! Carlos w/Gato Barbieri! You set the bar high. I was very saddened when I learned of Gato's passing recently. If there was any artist whose music approached how often I played Carlos' music it was Gato

OK. I see your two. I check with :
Bella

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The space between his notes is so magical. Especially on this one!
 
Interesting new article in the web page "Best Classic Bands" titled "Santana’s ‘Abraxas’: Post-Woodstock Latin Magic". It is in a regular column titled "Reviews: Album Rewinds".

There is nothing new in the article for us Santana fans, especially those of us that have read Carlos' autobiography. But tidbits such as the following perhaps provide a slightly different angle, the band "had never played for a crowd even one percent as large as that gathered in Bethel, N.Y. They had recorded, but not yet released, their first album for Columbia Records, and were on the performance schedule that afternoon only at the insistence of concert promoter Bill Graham, who was also their manager. Before their flight cross-country, Graham had told them the concert would make them famous; Carlos says he responded, 'Bill, we’re from the Mission [the Latino district of downtown S.F.]. We don’t buy into that rock star thing.' ”

and "...when Graham’s rival promoter Chet Helms advised Carlos to keep his job as a dishwasher, because Latin-tinged rock was a one-way ticket to nowhere." That doesn't seem to have proven true.;)

A quick read.
 
Huggy B said:


Carlos Santana, Born in Autlan, Jalisco, Mexico in 1947, he came up from the fertile San Francisco music scene to become one of the worlds most recognizable musical artists. Carlos is not only one of my favorite musicians, but my first guitar teacher (*just learning from his recordings:p) and the man who really put PRS on the map.

I will be adding vids and info to this thread on a periodic basis.

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I like Carlos. But Keith Richards was my first guitar teacher. Used to slow down 33 rpm Rolling Stones albums to 16 rpm to learn those bluesy guitar licks off the first two or three Stones albums.
 
Huggy B said:
CARLOS GOT STYLE

Carlos is as vibrant with his attire as he is with his lead guitar solos. With a mix of hippie, chicano, rasta, urban, and pure white from his Guru days, he is never the one to be sedate sartorially, and most of the time, pulls it off very well.





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Speaking of his guru days, Carlos left his guru, Sri Chinmoy, at least in part because Sri Chinmoy went off on an anti-gay rant at a lecture Carlos had attended.

Carlos was disgusted by it. Carlos said he thought his guru ought to mind his own business and soon left the fold.

Made me like Carlos even more when I read that in an interview.
 
matonanjin said:
Has this already been posted? I sort of searched. I don't think so and hope not.

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Washboard Chaz! I used to know him a little. He used to play on the Pearl Street mall a lot in Boulder, Colorado. That's the same washboard he had then, 30 years ago at least! What a trip seeing him again.

Cool video. Nice to hear Carlos playing with a little cleaner tone. Not so saturated. Sounds great!
 
Lewguitar said:
Speaking of his guru days, Carlos left his guru, Sri Chinmoy, at least in part because Sri Chinmoy went off on an anti-gay rant at a lecture Carlos had attended.

Carlos was disgusted by it. Carlos said he thought his guru ought to mind his own business and soon left the fold.

Made me like Carlos even more when I read that in an interview.
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If I recall Sri Chinmoy also told Carlos and then wife, Cindy, something that offended them. I'll try and find it. But he told them to not do something (or do something) that offended them.
Moondog Wily said:
Interesting guitar. I seem to ba able to read 245 on the TRC. This is NOT the Abraxas limited edition best I can tell. Great rendition of this song, thanks for sharing!
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That is the new signature SE Santana.
Lewguitar said:
Washboard Chaz! I used to know him a little. He used to play on the Pearl Street mall a lot in Boulder, Colorado. That's the same washboard he had then, 30 years ago at least! What a trip seeing him again.

Cool video. Nice to hear Carlos playing with a little cleaner tone. Not so saturated. Sounds great!
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I don't know. I have always loved the recognizable Santana tone! We'll have to agree to disagree on this one;):cool:
 
matonanjin said:
If I recall Sri Chinmoy also told Carlos and then wife, Cindy, something that offended them. I'll try and find it. But he told them to not do something (or do something) that offended them.

That is the new signature SE Santana.

I don't know. I have always loved the recognizable Santana tone! We'll have to agree to disagree on this one;):cool:
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Nothing to disagree about. Just nice hearing Santa using a cleaner tone. Change of pace. Looks like he's playing through a ToneTubby speaker cabinet and that the amp or whatever is on top of it is covered with a blanket or something. Wonder what that's about! Is he using something other than an amp he's supposed to be endorsing or something like that?
 
matonanjin said:
I don't know. I have always loved the recognizable Santana tone! We'll have to agree to disagree on this one;):cool:
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Have to agree here, way too recognizable and compelling, that straight ahead blues tone is a little anemic to my ears.
I think he might sound even more interesting if he went full jazz clean and blew his best Miles/Coltrane chops on a tune.
 
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