In the music world, the name Santana is synonymous with the singular Carlos Santana—and rightfully so. The Mexican musician was among the first to fuse rock and roll with Latin jazz, and he did so while playing some supremely psychedelic guitar playing.
The result? A nearly-60-year career that’s netted him 10 Grammy Awards, three Latin Grammys, and induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Not to mention four chart-topping albums in the U.S. But Santana the band has always been about more than just Carlos.
Through the years, the Santana lineup has evolved to where it might now be best described as a family band. There’s Carlos, of course. He and his guitar still soak up the spotlight, even as the 77-year-old spends most of his time on stage playing while seated—as he did at Kia Forum in Inglewood on the final Wednesday of August.
Since 2015, Carlos has been joined on the drums by his wife, Cindy Blackman Santana—and not just because the two are married. The 64-year-old is a percussive powerhouse in her own right, as she demonstrated throughout Santana’s latest L.A. show, but especially during a spectacular drum solo on the heels of “Are You Ready” to open the encore. More recently, a third Santana entered the fray: Carlos’ son, Salvador, from his first marriage. At the Forum, the 41-year-old played keys, chipped in some percussion, sang, and even rapped on the set-closing hit “Maria Maria.”
As it happens, Santana’s Oneness Tour with Counting Crows (who put on a full and fun opening set of their own) coincides with the 25th anniversary of Supernatural, which introduced Carlos and company to a whole new generation of music fans in 1999. That album accounted for five of the 18 songs on the night’s setlist. Of those, four came during a late-set run that included “(Da Le) Yaleo”, “Put Your Lights On”, and “Corazon Espinosa” en route to “Maria Maria”, followed by “Smooth” to close the encore.
But rather than bring out a slew of guest singers, as Carlos did on that studio album, Santana leaned largely on its dynamic duo of lead singers, Andy Vargas and Ray Greene. Those two tackled everything from Babatunde Olatunji’s “Jin-go-Lo-ba”, Willie Bobo’s “Evil Ways” and Tito Puente’s “Oye como va”, to “Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen”, “Everybody’s Everything”, and The Zombies’ “She’s Not There”. For “Put Your Lights On”, Andy and Ray ceded the main microphone to Tommy Anthony, who sang Everlast’s part beautifully while strumming acoustic guitar beneath a sea of phone lights.
The percussionists, Karl Perazzo and Paoli Mejias, infused the music with a more-than-sufficient dose of Latin rhythms. Their work was particularly poignant during the show-opening “Soul Sacrifice”, which got the South Los Angeles crowd on its feet from the get-go. Even Benny Rietveld garnered a bass solo early on, as an addendum to “Everybody’s Everything”, with a tease of Black Sabbath’s “Iron Man” in the mix.
Not to be outdone, Carlos dropped more than a few hints from his fellow legends.
After nodding to The Beatles’ “Day Tripper” on “Hope You’re Feeling Better”, Carlos pulled in sonic strands from War‘s “Spill the Wine”, The Temptations’ “Papa Was a Rolling Stone”, and Iron Butterfly’s “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” for a classic medley. He also plugged the children’s song “Row Row Row Your Boat” during a face-melting solo on “Europa”, and opened the encore with some James Bond riffs.
Like his father, Salvador contributed a tune from a contemporary. In his case, though, it was Charlie Puth’s “See You Again” during a keyboard solo on “Tesoro”.
Indeed, as much as the band bears his name, Carlos went to great lengths to highlight all of the tremendous musicians around him—including David K. Matthews on keys—in addition to putting his signature axemanship on resplendent display. That, in addition to sharing his views on everything from playing Woodstock to awakening collective consciousness and advocating for joy over fear.
Sadly, Carlos and his band won’t be bringing quite as much joy to music lovers as expected in the coming weeks. Santana has canceled performances in Phoenix and Albuquerque, along with some dates during his upcoming residency at the House of Blues in his current hometown of Las Vegas, so that Carlos can undergo minor back surgery.
Before that hiatus, though, the band will follow through with its shows in San Diego and back in Inglewood at the jam-packed Fool in Love festival this weekend. Find tickets and a full list of tour dates on Santana’s website. Check out some videos from Santana at the Kia Forum by DJ Gerry from Starlight Music.
Santana — “Black Magic Woman” — 8/28/24
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