Photo by Jay Blakesberg
His most recent success is a tremendous high point that began some fifty years ago in the Mexican village of Autlan, where at age five, Carlos was introduced to “traditional music” by his father Jose, an accomplished mariachi violinist. The family moved to the border boomtown of Tijuana in 1955, where Carlos seriously took up guitar, studying and emulating the sounds of B.B. King, John Lee Hooker, T. Bone Walker and other greats he heard on the radio. As much as he was inspired by the early training he received from his father in traditional musical form and theory, Carlos soon realized his dream was to break free and play rock ‘n roll. He began performing with local bands up and down the bustling “Tijuana Strip.” Carlos Santana began to hone his considerable skills and invent his inimitable sound.
In 1961, he moved stateside to San Francisco, joining his family, who had relocated there the previous year. Destiny had most certainly brought Carlos to the right place at the right time, planting him smack in the middle of the burgeoning and hugely influential Bay Area music scene… as well as in an era defining melting pot of cultural, political and artistic change. In this climate, Carlos continued to evolve his unique, genre-bending style, and in 1966, he took his music to the people with the debut performance of the Santana Blues Band. For the next two years, the group was swept up in a whirlwind of acclaim and popularity that carried them from the boards of Bill Graham’s historic Filmore West to the main stage at the epochal Woodstock “Peace, Love, Music” Festival, where on August 16, 1969, the Santana band’s gale-force Latin-flavored rock was delivered to the masses. (Two weeks later, they would repeat at the Texas International Pop Festival.)
The world embraced Carlos with a passion, captivated by music that was always changing, exploring and growing, yet always quintessentially and unmistakably Santana, heralded by a guitar prowess that today remains among the most distinctive ever. Each new release, including to date, eight gold albums, emerged as a reflection of Carlos’ personal growth and artistic evolution. Fans also reveled in his humanitarian messages and spiritual affirmations, subtle urgings towards peace, joy, acceptance, compassion and understanding that have been consistently communicated in a gentle, heartfelt manner at live performances around the globe.
The Santana Band achieved double-platinum status their first time out with the 1969 Columbia debut album Santana, featuring the hit single, “Evil Ways,” and quadruple-platinum with Abraxas, the classic 1970 follow-up, which boasted among its tracks “Black Magic Woman” and the incomparable Tito Puente’s composition “Oye Como Va.” Other milestones in the Santana discography include Santana III, featuring “Everything’s Coming Our Way”; the 1974 Columbia Greatest Hits package; the 1997 2-CD collection Live at the Filmore, featuring performances from their historic 1968 shows; the comprehensive 1995 Legacy boxed-set retrospective Dance of the Rainbow Serpent and their single-disc 1998 Best of Santana distillation; solo projects including the 1972 musical adventure Live With Buddy Miles and the highly personal Blues for Salvador (1987); and adventurous Guts & Grace / Island releases including 1994’s Brothers, which featured collaborations with Carlos’ sibling Jorge and nephew, Carlos Hernandez, and Mystic Man, with Italian composer, Paolo Rustichelli. Significant filmed repertoire include the 1988 video retrospective Viva Santana, the 1993 South American concert video Sacred Fire, and 1997’s CD-ROM A History of Santana: The River of Color and Sound. Most recently, FOX Television aired the gala special A Supernatural Evening with Santana, a celebration of the record-setting album featuring performances with Rob Thomas, Lauryn Hill, Dave Matthews and Sarah McLachlan, among others; Aviva International and Image Entertainment will be releasing the DVD and video of this memorable event in the near future. Whatever the medium or the genre, Carlos’ uncompromising passion for his art shines clearly through.
This passion also paved the way for ventures into musical and geographic territories, including the scoring of the feature film La Bamba, the embarking on a 1988 tour with great jazz saxophonist, Wayne Shorter and participating in 1987’s Rock ‘n Roll Summit, the first-ever joint US-Soviet rock concert. Carlos Santana has also contributed his talents to the benefit of numerous charitable causes, among them Blues for Salvador, San Francisco Earthquake Relief, Tijuana Orphans, Rights of Indigenous people, and education for Latin youth in association with the Hispanic Media & Education Group. He’s also received numerous civic and humanitarian commendations over the years.
To see Santana's page in the Texas International Pop Festival program, click here.