Carlos Santana: humble superstar!

By George Varga
UNION-TRIBUNE POP MUSIC CRITIC
May 30, 2004

A hippie at heart, Carlos Santana has long championed music as a potent force for creating positive vibrations that - as this veteran of the 1969 Woodstock festival puts it - "can change your molecular structure."

But the legendary rocker sounded uncharacteristically angry during a
discussion about the recent death of one of his musical heroes, jazz drum icon Elvin Jones, who died May 18 of heart failure.
Santana, who will be honored in Los Angeles as the 2004 Latin Recording Academy Person of the Year on Aug. 30, is incensed that Jones' death elicited scant media coverage. He expressed his frustration during a recent interview from his San Rafael office.

"I'm really embarrassed for this nation, and for MTV and VH1 and Rolling Stone, because it was a very racist thing not to acknowledge this most important musician when he passed," said Santana, whose 1999 album, "Supernatural," won nine Grammys and has sold more than 25 million copies. "For them to (play up) Ozzy Osbourne and other corny-ass white people, but not Elvin, is demeaning and I'm really embarrassed to live in this country." The mustachioed guitarist and bandleader first heard Jones in 1965 on the John Coltrane Quartet's epic album "A Love Supreme," about a year after the teenaged Santana moved to San Francisco from Tijuana and became an American
citizen. He was immediately struck by the force of the quartet's music and the impact of Jones' polyrhythmic drumming.

"When that intro comes in on 'A Love Supreme' it's like the gates of heaven opening," Santana, 56, said. "In fact, when I die, if I don't hear 'A Love Supreme,' I'll turn back; I'll know I'm in the wrong place. For me, Elvin was Número Uno, forever, for all ages, for all existence. I miss him terribly; I've been playing his music nonstop since he died, especially 'Agenda' (from Jones' 1969 'Poly-Currents') with Joe Farrell (on sax). He was a supreme drummer who was doing things that were totally different than anyone else.

"When I hear Elvin's music I hear the pyramids, I hear African and
pre-Columbian music, and I hear the future. Elvin is the beat of life
itself, and his music transcends 'clever' or 'cute' or any superlatives. When he and Coltrane played, and everyone else in the quartet dropped out, that's what Jimi Hendrix would play if he was still alive. That's what John McLaughlin wants to play, and he's alive, because there is nothing more pure or vibrant than Coltrane and Elvin."

It is because he holds Jones in such high esteem that Santana was angry at the absence of media tributes to the masterful drummer, who was 76 when he died and kept performing until just weeks before his death.

The reason for the slight, Santana believes, is a matter of racial and
cultural prejudice. "When Miles (Davis) died (in 1991), for four hours in France they stopped everything on TV and radio - all the regular programming - and just showed Miles for four hours, all through France," Santana recalled. "Here in the U.S., it's embarrassing (how jazz is treated). People should be ashamed of
themselves."

MTV and VH1 are virtually jazz-free, and the music has historically been held in much higher esteem abroad than here, in its homeland.
But Santana believes exceptions should be made for musicians as notable as Jones, who Pearl Jam drummer Matt Cameron hailed as "a major force to be reckoned with" who could "wow the pants off a jazz fan or non-jazz fan" alike.

"If I would've been running MTV, I would've stopped all the corny stuff they show and shown one of Elvin's (drum) solos. Because he represents the highest level of creativity, like Duke Ellington," Santana said. "America is such an ignorant country. I understand that I'm hard on America, but if you look at all the (alarming) things on CNN, (you'll see) we need to grow up quickly. We need to crystallize our existence because we place economic values over spiritual ones.

"I'm hurt. And if I was a little hard or cruel with MTV and VH1, they
deserve it. They need to stop showing what they are showing, and show real musicians. Why do they keep showing such stupidity? MTV needs to reassess its priorities."

No such thing as an overreaction.

and Rob Thomas is the vessel from whom he speaks

seriously, the french aren't realy into jerry lewis anymore.

"Uneasy Rider"?

and led zeppelin is bluegrass

"Hats Off to Roy Harper"? (more of a stretch, I'll grant)

and depeche mode is opera bouffe

Well of course!

ugh, fuck this guy too

https://www.billboard.com/culture/pride/carlos-santana-anti-trans-comments-concert-1235400241/

A clip began circulating online recently of Santana performing in Atlantic City, N.J., in late July, where the star stopped during his show to share his thoughts on the transgender experience itself. “When God made you and me, before we came out of the womb, you know who you are and what you are,” he said. “Later on, when you grow out of it, you see things, and you start believing that you could be something that sounds good, but you know it ain’t right.”

The guitarist then took his comments a step further, making a commonly disputed claim that there are only two genders. “Because a woman is a woman and a man is a man — that’s it,” he said. “Whatever you wanna do in the closet, that’s your business. I’m OK with that.”

I thought he was dead

there should just be one thread for this, like the covidiots in music one

tbh I wasn't sure where to put it, didn't feel appropriate to put in one of the ILE trans related threads to muddy up the good and worthwhile discussions there, but felt like it should be noted

yeah, i hear you. if i could i would rephrase my post to sound more like: maybe we can get a rolling transphobes in music thing since it seems useful to catalogue the trickle

sadly it appears that we will need one at this rate.

no just keep updating the relevant threads I don't want this to be quarantined like the metoo stuff seems to have been

Yeah, I posted this in a different Santana thread. Really fucking disappointing.

yeah, sorry, just saw your other post now. i was searching specifically for "carlos santana" threads and didn't see that one

this guy has always been a tedious fucking hippie and no great loss to music and with any luck he'll be gone soon anyway

Why would he think a concert is the place for this kind of bullshit? Should have talked to the Atlantic.

Whatever all his good songs are covers either way

no just keep updating the relevant threads I don't want this to be quarantined like the metoo stuff seems to have been

― your original display name is still visible (Left), Thursday, August 24, 2023 4:31 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

if this is really how people feel then fine, my feeling was simply that there seemed to be a connection between alice and carlos and it might've been more fruitful to have that discussion in one spot

What a jerkoff