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

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)  

John McLaughlin - ...and on guitar (1970)

John McLaughlin was born on 4 January 1942 to a family of musicians (his mother being a concert violinist) in Doncaster, South Yorkshire. He studied violin and piano as a child and took up the guitar at the age of 11, exploring styles from flamenco to the jazz of Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli. He moved to London from Yorkshire in the early 1960's, playing with Alexis Korner and the Marzipan Twisters before moving on to Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames, the Graham Bond Organisation and Brian Auger. During the 1960's, he often supported himself with session work, which is what I'm concentrating on for this album. Although primarily known for his work in the jazz and jazz-fusion field, he also contributed to a number of pop records in the 60's, which might surprise some people, and so here are the best of those recordings. 
Twice as Much was composed of Dave Skinner and Andrew Rose, who were harmony singers who wrote much of their own material, although ironically their only UK Top 40 success as performers was a cover of the Mick Jagger/ Keith Richards composition 'Sittin' On A Fence' in 1966. That was enough to get them an album deal, though, and McLaughlin played guitar on all the songs on their 'Own Up' record from the same year. This was while he was playing with Georgie Fame and The Blue Flames, and so when the band went into the studio to record the 'Biding My Time' single McLaughlin was on hand with the guitar parts. In 1967 he added guitar to a rare single by Duffy Power (sometimes attributed to Duffy Power's Nucleus), playing on both 'Davy O'Brien (Leave That Baby Alone)' and its flip 'July Tree'. Also in 1967 he was part of the group of session musicians who helped David Bowie record songs for his first album, although the two songs that he played guitar on didn't make the final album, but eventually surfaced on 'The World Of David Bowie' compilation three years later. 
1967 was a busy year for McLaughlin, contributing to Biddu's 'Daughter Of Love' 7", nearly 10 years before he hit the big time with the Biddu Orchestra and the 'Summer of '42' single. In 1968 he helped out The Gordon Beck Quartet record an album of instrumental takes of pop hits of the day, and the next year he was on board for a concept album about Don Quixote from Kenny Wheeler. Also in 1968 he recorded a semi-acoustic free-jazz album with Jack Bruce, Jon Hiseman and Dick Heckstall-Smith, which was released in 1970 as Jack Bruce's second solo album, even though it was recorded before 1969's 'Songs For A Tailor'. The last three tracks are McLaughlin's first forays into jazz as a sessionman, leading the way to what would become his chosen form of music for the rest of his career, firstly with Miles Davis, then with Tony Williams Lifetime, and finally with his own bands The Mahivishnu Orchestra and Shakti. Don't be put off if you're not that keen on jazz, as this is actually a nice collection of 60's pop from a guitarist who could seemingly cover all bases when needed, as well as finding time to give guitar lessons to Jimmy Page! 

Track listing

01 The Spinning Wheel (from 'Own Up' by Twice As Much 1966)
02 The Summer's Ending (from 'Own Up' by Twice As Much 1966)
03 Biding My Time (single by Georgie Fame 1966)
04 Because I Love You (b-side of 'Bidin' My Time') 
05 Davy O'Brien (Leave That Baby Alone) (single by Duffy Power 1967)
06 July Tree (b-side of 'Davy O'Brien (Leave That Baby Alone)')
07 Karma Man (from 'The World Of David Bowie' 1970, recorded 1967)   
08 Let Me Sleep Beside You (from 'The World Of David Bowie' 1970, recorded 1967)   
09 Daughter Of Love (single by Biddu 1967)  
10 Look Out Here I Come (b-side of 'Daughter Of Love')
11 Sancho (from 'Windmill Tilter (The Story Of Don Quixote)' by Kenny Wheeler 1969)
12 Norwegian Wood (from 'Experiments With Pops' by The Gordon Beck Quartet 1968)
13 Things We Like (from 'Things We Like' by Jack Bruce 1970, recorded 1968)