Santana

Post photo: Detail of Abraxas record cover (1970)

Everyone knows Santana or has at least heard of it because it has been since 1966 Carlos Santana with his Santana Blues Band on the road, and the band continues to play wonderful Latin rock in ever-changing formations, even after more than five decades.

The band was formed in San Francisco, and attracted a wide audience with their 1969 performance at the still very popular Woodstock Festival famous. Shortly before, the band had also released their first album "Santana". Next to Carlos Santana were Mike Carabello, Tom Frazier, Rod Harper, Gus Rodríguez and Gregg Rollie the first band members.

To date, a good 25 studio albums, seven live albums and 23 compilations should have come together. The nice thing is that no matter what album I put on, my better half doesn't veto it and doesn't mind if it gets a little louder; which I can't say about most other music albums.

Over the years I have come to appreciate the following albums in particular and individual pieces from them, such as Europa, Samba Pati or Black Magic Woman, have become real catchy tunes, at least for me.

• Santana (1969) starring Evil Ways, Soul Sacrifice and Jingo
• Abraxas (1970) with Black Magic Woman, Oye Cómo Va and Samba Pa Ti
• Santana III (1971) with Everybody's Everything
• Caravanserai (1972) with Song of the Wind
• Moonflower (1977) with She's Not There and I'll Be Waiting
• Amigos (1976) with Europe
• Supernatural (1999) with Corazón Espinado and Put Your Lights On

There is also the catchy tune "The Healer" from the album of the same name John Lee Hooker (1989), where Carlos Santana can be heard as a guest musician.

Of course, Santana's other albums are also very worth listening to, although I consider those from the 1990s, with the exception of "Supernatural", to be less successful.

The band leader Carlos Santana succeeded in combining styles of music such as jazz, blues, rock and salsa in such a way that Latin rock, which is so typical today, developed and Santana can well be considered its synonym. According to his own statement, he himself was a blues musician from the beginning, which is not only reflected in the original name of the band, but in my opinion can also be heard in his songs, which he recorded without his band and together with other musicians.