Jazz-rock latino: «Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen» y «Oye Como Va» [ESP/ENG]

Carlos Santana is a guitarist of Mexican origin who moved to San Francisco as a teenager. In 1965 he obtained American citizenship and became famous in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his group Santana, which mixed psychedelia and rock with Latin music accompanying his blues and jazz improvisations with Latin and African rhythms provided by percussion instruments. In addition, in the late 1990s Santana enjoyed a revival of its popularity, although Carlos has also maintained a solo career, always offering his mastery as a passionate soloist with a lyrical phrasing and a warm tone. For more than four decades he has been a visionary artist who has transcended the limits of musical genres and geographical, cultural and generational boundaries, pioneering what would later be called “world music” within pop culture. His father, a virtuoso mariachi (traditional Mexican style) violinist, taught him to play violin at age five and guitar at age eight. His first influence was Mexican rock & roll guitarist Ritchie Valens and then legendary blues guitarists John Lee Hooker and B.B. King. He started playing rock & roll in Mexico in local bands, and in San Francisco he came into contact with jazz and folk, and witnessed the growing hippie movement that originated in that city.

Fuente

Fuente

In 1966 a friend introduced him to well-known blues guitarist Mike Bloomfied, who saw him participate in a jam session at the Fillmore West concert hall where he favorably surprised the audience and the venue’s director Bill Graham. That same year he founded the Santana Blues Band with singer, organist and keyboardist Gregg Rolie, electric bassist David Brown, drummer Bob Livingston and percussionist Marcus Malone. In 1968 Bloomfield invited him to play in the Fillmore West with Al Kooper’s group, and the result is registered on the double album The Live Adventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper, where Carlos’s exquisite guitar can be heard recorded for the first time. Then, Graham hired the Santana Blues Band as opening act for The Who, and later as the main group, changing its name to Santana. The group was playing in San Francisco clubs, after some changes in the line-up it was hired by Columbia Records, and in 1969 recorded its first work Santana. That same year it participated in the Woodstock Festival as part of a tour and had great success, which boosted its album to the fourth position on the Billboard 200 pop chart and the single “Evil Ways” entered the Billboard Top Ten. However, there were tensions in the band because Carlos wanted to introduce into the music jazz ingredients following saxophonist John Coltrane and trumpeter Miles Davis, while Gregg Rolie wished to venture into the path of hard rock.

Fuente

Fuente

In 1970 Santana received its international consecration with Abraxas, in which it raised its sound mix to the highest level and received superb reviews. It reached the first place of the Billboard 200 and the single “Black Magic Woman” the fourth of the Billboard Hot 100. Its burning and exciting sound is based on an unstoppable rhythm section while Rolei’s voice and organ provide a counterpoint to Carlos’s guitar. Throughout the 1970s Santana’s performances were massive. In 1971 guitarist Neal Schon joined the band and José “Chepito” Areas was replaced on percussion by Coke Escovedo before the recording of Santana III, which presents an intense dialogue between guitars and returned to the first place of the Billboard 200. Afterwards, tensions in the group increased due to drugs problems and economic irregularities, and Carlos dissolved it. In 1972, Carlos, Schon and Escobedo joined singer and drummer Buddy Miles, who had played with Jimi Hendrix, and other musicians, for a concert at Hawaii’s Diamond Head Crater, featured in Carlos Santana and Buddy Miles! Live!, which was certified gold.

Fuente

Fuente

Translated with the help of DeepL

Fuente

Fuente

℗ Columbia Records