John McLaughlin & Carlos Santana - A Live Supreme (1973)

In 1971, John McLaughlin and Carlos Santana were both recent disciples of the guru Sri Chinmoy, and musically Santana was moving from rock toward jazz and fusion, experiencing a "spiritual awakening", while McLaughlin had left Miles Davis' band and was forming his new group, The Mahavishnu Orchestra. Santana had been a fan of McLaughlin, and the two had started playing and recording together in 1972. According to his biographer Marc Shapiro, Santana had much to learn from McLaughlin: "He would sit for hours, enthralled at the new ways to play that McLaughlin was teaching him," and his new spirituality had its effect on the music: "the feeling was that Carlos's newfound faith was present in every groove." In 1973 they recorded an album together, inspired by the teachings of Sri Chinmoy and intended as a tribute to John Coltrane. It contains two Coltrane compositions, two McLaughlin songs, and a traditional gospel song arranged by Santana and McLaughlin. Fans of Santana were, apparently, disappointed, as they were still reeling from the radical direction shift toward jazz on 'Caravanserai', and praying that it was an aberration, whereas it was lauded by critics, who could hear this recording in the context of not only Santana's development as a guitarist, but as the logical extension of the music of John Coltrane and Miles Davis influencing rock musicians; and of course, McLaughlin was a former Davis sideman. 

A ten city tour was undertaken to promote the album during late summer of 1973, just after the summer Mahavishnu Orchestra tour. Each of the ten concerts lasted nearly three hours, with the band line-up consisting of McLaughlin and Santana on guitars, Larry Young on keys, Doug Rauch on bass, Billy Cobham on drums, and Armando Peraza on percussion, and in contrast to the mixed reviews given the studio album, the reception of the live shows was almost universally ecstatic. Despite knowing that these two world-class guitarists would almost certainly play extended versions of the album tracks, their record company never considered recording any of the shows for later release as a live album, and so it was down to the bootleggers to provide a permanent record of these once in a lifetime concerts. This recording is from Saratoga Springs on 26 August 1973, and while it is only an hour and twenty minutes long, it does include the only live performance of the title track of the album, although the final track had to be faded, as presumably the tape ran out. The sound quality is excellent, but the cheering at the end did sound a bit distant, and so I decided to remove the audience completely so that we could more clearly hear every note of this stunning music.  

Track listing

01 Meditation
02 Flame-Sky
03 A Love Supreme
04 I'm Aware Of You
05 Love, Devotion And Surrender
06 Taurian Matador
07 Let Us Go Into The House Of The Lord

...and on guitar - The Book (2023) **UPDATE**

Thanks to the recent visitor who pointed out to me that I'd spelled Steve Lukather's name wrong throughout his '...and on guitar' post, and I was surprised that it hadn't been spotted before. The post was easy enough to fix, but then I realised that I should really update the book that I put together from the posts, and that was a bit more tricky. When I opened up my original Word file I found that the cover for the Robbie Blunt post was corrupt, and all the covers after that entry were blank. I though that someone would have mentioned that when I first posted it, so I can only assume that somehow the picture became corrupt after I'd made the post, but it had also affected the pdf, which I don't understand. Anyway, I've managed to re-do the whole thing, and I've double-checked and all the pictures are now there. If you got a dodgy copy when you first downloaded it, or just want the updated version, then try it now. 

pj  

...and on guitar - The Book (2023)

Now that I've posted what could turn out to be the final entry in the '...and on guitar' series, here's something that I've been thinking about doing this for quite a while. When the number of posts in the series reached over 75 then I thought that now was the time to put them all together in one place, almost like a book. So what you have here are all the write-ups for the '...and on guitar' series, presented in alphabetical order, so that they can be dipped into as you are listening to the albums, or just read as a history of the lives of all these great guitarists. 

Soulseek hint      book aiwe

Carlos Santana - ...and on guitar (1978)

Unlike many artists in this series, Carlos Humberto Santana Barragán emerged almost fully-formed in 1966 with his very first group, the Santana Blues Band. He'd learned to play the violin at age five and the guitar at age eight, and it was also around this age that he fell under the influence of blues performers like B.B. King, Javier Bátiz, Mike Bloomfield, and John Lee Hooker. In 1966, he was chosen, along with other musicians, to form an ad hoc band to substitute for an intoxicated Paul Butterfield, who was due to play a Sunday matinee at Bill Graham's Fillmore Auditorium. Graham selected the substitutes from musicians he knew primarily through his connections with the Butterfield Blues Band, Grateful Dead, and Jefferson Airplane, and Santana's guitar playing caught the attention of both the audience and Graham. During the same year he and fellow street musicians David Brown (bass guitar), Marcus Malone (percussion) and Gregg Rolie (lead vocals, Hammond Organ B3), formed the Santana Blues Band, playing a highly original blend of Latin-infused rock, jazz, blues, salsa, and African rhythms. The band was signed by Columbia Records, shortening their name to simply Santana, and went into the studio to record their first album in January 1969. Before it was even released, Bill Graham, a Latin Music aficionado who had been a fan of Santana from its inception, arranged for the band to appear at the Woodstock Music and Art Festival, and their set was one of the surprises of the festival, highlighted by an eleven-minute performance of the throbbing instrumental 'Soul Sacrifice'. 

When the album was released, the publicity generated by their Woodstock appearance helped it to crack the Top 5 of the U.S. album charts. However, things were fraught between the band members, with some wanting to pursue a harder rock style, whereas Santana himself was increasingly interested in moving beyond his love of blues and rock and wanted more jazzy, ethereal elements in the music. Their second album 'Abraxas' came out in 1970, and its mix of rock, blues, jazz, salsa and other influences was very well received, showing a musical maturation from their first album and refining the band's early sound. Teenage San Francisco Bay Area guitar prodigy Neal Schon joined the band in 1971, in time to complete the third album 'Santana III', which now boasted a powerful dual-lead-guitar attack that gave the album a tougher sound. 1972's 'Caravanserai' marked a strong change in musical direction towards jazz fusion, and although it received critical praise, it is my least favourite of their records. By now Santana had proved his worth as a guitarist of some note, and so was asked to help out as a guest on other artist's records, adding his distinctive guitar to albums by Luis Gasca, Flora Purim, and Narada Michael Walden. He had already released an album as a duo with John McLaughlin in 1973, and in 1978 Santana guested on his 'Electric Guitarist' album, as well as appearing with Gato Barbieri and Giants the same year. Giants were actually a sort of supergroup consisting of Herbie Hancock, Greg Errico, and Neal Schon alongside Santana and other members of his band, and so enjoy them and the others pieces on this collection of Carlos Santana's extra-curricular activities from his heyday throughout the 70's.    

Track listing

01 Sonny Boy Williamson (from 'The Live Adventures Of Mike Bloomfield & Al Kooper' 1969)
02 Papa John's Downhome Blues (from 'Papa John Creach' by Papa John Creach 1971)
03 Little Mama (from 'For Those Who Chant' by Luis Gasca 1972)
04 Silver Sword (from 'Stories To Tell' by Flora Purim 1974)
05 First Love (from 'Garden Of Love Light' by Narada Michael Walden 1976)
06 Friendship (from 'Electric Guitarist' by John McLaughlin 1978)
07 In Your Heart (from 'Giants' by Giants 1978)
08 Latin Lady (from 'Tropico' by Gato Barbieri 1978)