Carlos Santana

Carlos Augusto Alves Santana (born July 20 1947 in Autlán de Navarro, Jalisco, Mexico) is a Mexican–American Grammy Award-winning musician and Latin-rock guitarist.

Santana to Caravanserai

Soon signed to Columbia Records, the band released a largely instrumental, self-titled album, Santana in 1969. The group at this point consisting of Carlos Santana (guitar), Gregg Rolie (keyboards and vocals), David Brown (bass guitar), Michael Shrieve (drums), José "Chepito" Areas (percussion) and Michael Carabello (percussion).

Related Topics:
Columbia Records - Santana - 1969 - Gregg Rolie - Keyboard - Vocals - David Brown - Bass guitar - Michael Shrieve - Drums - José "Chepito" Areas - Percussion - Michael Carabello

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On the tour to support the album, the band played at Woodstock Music and Art Festival. They were one of the surprises of the festival; their set was legendary, and later the exposure of their eight-minute instrumental "Soul Sacrifice" in the Woodstock film and soundtrack albums vastly increased Santana's popularity. Santana became a huge hit, reaching number four on the U.S. album chart, and the catchy single "Evil Ways" reached number nine on the Billboard Hot 100.

Related Topics:
Woodstock Music and Art Festival - Billboard Hot 100

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In 1970 the group reached its early commercial peak with their second album, Abraxas, which reached number one on the album charts and went on to sell over four million copies. The innovative Santana musical blend made a number-four hit out of English blues-rockers Fleetwood Mac's "Black Magic Woman", and a number-thirteen hit out of salsa champion Tito Puente's "Oye Como Va". Abraxas has since been placed on several "best albums of all time" lists. The classic Santana lineup of their first two albums was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.

Related Topics:
1970 - Abraxas - Fleetwood Mac - Tito Puente - Rock and Roll Hall of Fame - 1998

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However, Woodstock and the success of the first two albums began to put pressure on the group, and highlighted the different musical directions that Rolie and Santana were starting to go in.

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Rolie was more influenced by the progressive rock movement; he wanted to highlight keyboards in the music, play long instrumentals, thematically link music across all of the songs on an album, and use characteristics of classical music. Carlos on the other hand wanted shorter songs and to bring forward the influence of the music of Mexico and his family heritage, with a heavier emphasis on percussion. The band had started to disintegrate.

Related Topics:
Progressive rock - Classical music

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A teenage San Francisco Bay Area guitar prodigy, Neal Schon, was asked to join the band in 1971; he was also asked by Eric Clapton to join Derek and the Dominoes. Choosing Santana, he was brought into the studio to help clean up the "success mess", brought on by the band's new-found fame, and to help complete the third album, Santana 3. Schon, with a classical music background, was also more inclined to lean toward progressive rock (and at the same time he was helping Santana, he formed the band Azteca with Larry Graham, which eventually after further changes became Graham Central Station).

Related Topics:
San Francisco Bay Area - Neal Schon - 1971 - Eric Clapton - Derek and the Dominoes - Santana 3 - Azteca - Larry Graham - Graham Central Station

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In any case, Santana 3 was another success, reaching number one on the album chart, selling two million copies, and spawning the hit singles "Everybody's Everything" and "No One to Depend On".

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After Santana came back from a South American tour, which was cut short in Peru when all their gear was confiscated, they started working on a new, fourth, album, Caravanserai. During the studio sessions in December 1971, Rolie decided that it was time to go. He left and went home to Seattle, opening a restaurant with his father, and later became a founding member of Journey (which Schon would join as well).

Related Topics:
South American - Peru - Caravanserai - Journey

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When Caravanserai did emerge in 1972, it was with individual credits on each track, and marked the end of Santana as a band with a fixed membership. It also marked a strong change in musical direction towards jazz-rock fusion. As such it earned considerable critical praise.

Related Topics:
1972 - Jazz-rock fusion

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