Carlos Santana: “A Musician Should Have A Few Career Suicide Moments”

"A musician should have a few career suicide moments." That's one thing I learned from Carlos Santana when we spoke a short time ago. If there's one musician I love having a chat with, it's Carlos. Forget about his status as a legendary guitarist, or that he played those otherworldly solos on "Soul Sacrifice" at Woodstock while tripping on acid, or the fact his song "Smooth" is the second highest charting song in music history. What I most love about Carlos Santana is he is a warm, honest, highly-evolved human, and each time we're done with a conversation, I feel like I've just finished meditating. I definitely learn something every time. The Music Of Santana Then, there's the music. What a career. Santana's landmark debut album, which beautifully combined rock, jazz, r&b and latin rhythms, gave him his first hit song, "Evil Ways." The experimental work he did in 1972 on Caravanserai was our early exposure to what would become jazz fusion. Just one year later, he made an album with Mahavishnu Orchestra's John McLaughlin interpreting the teachings of Sri Chinmoy, their spiritual adviser, through the music of John Coltrane. More hits followed through the 70s and 80s, working with Scottish vocalist Alex Ligertwood on songs like "Hold On" "All I Ever Wanted" and "Winning." Then, at the very end of the 20th century, along came "Smooth." It hit #1 and stayed there for 12 weeks, and remains the third biggest single in chart history, behind "The Twist" by Chubby Checker and "Blinding Lights" by the Weeknd. Santana Live: A Revival Seeing Santana live is always a wonderful experience. The first time I saw him was at our WYSP "Be-In" in 1992 in Fairmount Park. We were mesmerized by the music and transfixed on Carlos and his truly stunning guitar work. You'll have the chance to see this master in action, as Santana plays at the Freedom Mortgage Pavilion, with Counting Crows opening, Friday night, June 21, fittingly on the summer solstice. Good seats are still available HERE. Carlos Gives Us A Scoop! I've had the honor of speaking with Carlos Santana several times over the course of my career and, each time, it is an absolute joy. Not only did we have a wonderful conversation again this time, but Carlos broke some news about a new album he has coming out called Sentient. We discuss that, his guitar playing, his wife (and drummer in the Santana band) Cindy Blackman, and some other topics, all told in his inspiring and comforting voice. Hope you enjoy conversation with the "deliciously dangerous," as he says, Carlos Santana: [audio mp3="https://wmgk.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Andre-and-Carlos-Santana-podcast-final-053124_1717518615_.mp3"][/audio]