The Guitar Channel

Guitar Channel Exclusive: Carlos Santana Interview with Walter Kolosky

When author Walter Kolosky released his updated eBook edition of Power, Passion and Beauty - The Story of the Legendary Mahavishnu Orchestra last year, he included some great additional material culled from new interviews he conducted with several high-profile musicians. One of those musicians was iconic guitar legend Carlos Santana. However, as is often the case with such endeavors, Walter's interview with Santana yielded more material than was needed for the project it was intended for.

I was thrilled when Walter reached out to me about the prospect of presenting this additional Santana interview material in an exclusive feature for the Guitar Channel. The piece is now complete and posted (via the link below), and it's a wonderful read. Santana not only provides insight on his collaborations with Mahavishnu Orchestra founder John McLaughlin, but on numerous other topics as well. Many thanks to Walter for providing this well written, fantastic feature for GC readers.

Carlos Santana on Mahavishnu and Swimming in the Deep End

 

2013 Special Edition eBook "Power, Passion and Beauty- The Story of the Legendary Mahavishnu Orchestra" officially released

PRESS RELEASE

2013 marks the 40th anniversary of the tumultuous break-up of the greatest band that ever was, the Mahavishnu Orchestra. The group, founded by British guitarist John McLaughlin, was the first to fuse jazz, rock and world music into critical and commercial success. In a remarkable feat, its strictly instrumental albums were able to find their way into the Top 20 of the Billboard rock charts. The Special Edition eBook “Power, Passion and Beauty - The Story of the Legendary Mahavishnu Orchestra” is the updated version of Walter Kolosky’s critically acclaimed work first published in 2006. Many have called that book “The Bible” of the Mahavishnu Orchestra and the jazz-rock fusion movement. The Special Edition eBook is brand new to those who have not read the original printed version of this riveting story. For those that have, however, many new anecdotes, insights, opinions, and an extra chapter updating the story of Mahavishnu have been added. The list of those exclusively sharing their views and memories of Mahavishnu for the original book was staggering. Herbie Hancock, Joe Zawinul, Pat Metheny, Sir George Martin, Jeff Beck, all of the original Mahavishnu members and almost 150 other music giants helped tell the Mahavishnu tale. This time around, Carlos Santana, Chick Corea, Steve Howe, Carmine Appice, and many other noted artists, producers, audio engineers and spiritual travelers add to the legend that is the Mahavishnu Orchestra. The Special Edition eBook “Power, Passion and Beauty” also has dedicated web pages that will offer more rare images, news and information.

SOME EARLY COMMENTS AND REVIEWS:

“Thank you so much for doing this book!” - Carlos Santana

“This (“Power, Passion and Beauty”) is a great book!” - Chick Corea

“I was riveted by “Power, Passion and Beauty,” even though I knew the incendiary and brief history of the band, probably because it was so inspiring to hear how everyone who ever heard or was associated with the band was changed forever, not just by the power and originality of the music, but as if by something more spiritually fueled. This music was life-changing for all of us who heard it, and for all music which followed and continues to emerge from Mahavishnu's long shadow. Walter is to be eternally thanked for stoking the Flame.” - Christopher O’Riley, noted musician and host of America’s National Public Radio and Television’s “From The Top.”

"Walter Kolosky is clearly the foremost authority on the most important and powerful jazz-rock group of all time, the Mahavishnu Orchestra. With its enthralling interviews and insight, Kolosky's "Power, Passion and Beauty" details the storied history and influence of this epic band in a book that's as fun to read as it is fascinating. "Power, Passion and Beauty" is a must-have for music fans seeking a deeper understanding of the origins of the jazz-rock movement, and the greatest band the genre has ever known." - Rich Murray, The Guitar Channel

“Walter Kolosky has made the definitive tome on Mahavishnu Orchestra even more expansive and engaging. With fresh perspectives, sharper details, and new interviews, this eBook is a must-have for avid Mahavishnu and John McLaughlin fans. For those of you that were there, the book provides great insight into your fond memories. For those who know the band solely through recordings, this book gets you as close as you can to the alchemy that took place onstage and in the studio.” - Anil Prasad, Innerviews (The web’s first and longest-running music magazine)

Goto www.walterkolosky.com for more details.

 

Video: Interview and Rehearsal Footage with John McLaughlin and Carlos Santana at Montreux

Interview with John McLaughlin and Carlos Santana at this year's Montreux Jazz Festival. Also includes some rehearsal footage.

Reuters Review of Carlos Santana and John McLaughlin at the Montreux Jazz Festival

Reuters has a nice write-up of Carlos Santana and John McLaughlin's performance last night at the Montreux Jazz Festival.

Reuters: Santana, McLaughlin open Montreux jazz on high note

Eric Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival 2010 Brings World's Greatest Artists to Movie Theaters Nationwide on July 27

NCM Fathom and Rhino Entertainment Showcase the Top Guitarists -- including Eric Clapton, ZZ Top, Steve Winwood, BB King, Jeff Beck, Vince Gill, Sheryl Crow, Buddy Guy, John Mayer, Bill Murray and more -- on the Big Screen in High Definition in Over 475 Select Theaters

PRESS RELEASE

CENTENNIAL, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Legendary guitarist Eric Clapton shares the stage with some of the greatest artists in the world during a star-studded, extraordinary concert on Tuesday, July 27 in more than 475 movie theaters nationwide. Presented by NCM Fathom and Rhino Entertainment, the Eric Clapton Crossroads 2010 special two-hour event will be shown in HD beginning at 7:30pm local time across all time zones and will feature historic musical performances from the day-long Crossroads Guitar Festival 2010, which took place at Chicago’s Toyota Park on June 26. All 27,000 tickets to this year’s Chicago festival sold out in minutes – making it one of the hottest must-attend concert events of the summer.

Eric Clapton Crossroads 2010 gives fans around the country a chance to experience many of the greatest moments from the legendary day-long festival, including performances by Clapton, ZZ Top, Steve Winwood, BB King, Jeff Beck, Vince Gill, Sheryl Crow, Buddy Guy, John Mayer, Bill Murray and many others. Theater audiences will gain exclusive backstage VIP access to behind-the-scenes footage and candid interviews with the performers, including an introduction by Clapton himself.

Tickets for Eric Clapton Crossroads 2010 in-theater event are available at participating theater box offices and online at www.fathomevents.com. For a complete list of theater locations and ticket prices, please visit the Fathom website (theaters and participants are subject to change).

“Simply said, it’s the best of the best on one stage for one night,” said Dan Diamond, vice president of Fathom. “The in-theater event will allow fans all over the country to experience Crossroads Guitar Festival 2010 in stunning HD and digital sound, complete with an unrivaled line-up of the world’s best guitarists and surprise guests playing impromptu jams that are the hallmarks of these amazing performers.”

Often credited as being one of the all time greatest guitarists and known amongst his peers as one of the all time greatest collaborators, Eric Clapton is the only recording artist to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame three times: as a solo artist, as a member of the Yardbirds, and for his work with Cream. He is also the recipient of 18 Grammy Awards for his solo music and work in various bands and projects. In 1998, Clapton founded The Crossroads Centre in Antigua, a treatment and education facility founded for chemically dependent persons.

Since its inception, Clapton’s vision for the Crossroads Guitar Festival has been to create an event where his friends and contemporaries can have fun and perform together for the benefit of a good cause. In 2004, the first Crossroads Guitar Festival was held in Dallas, Texas to benefit The Crossroads Centre and featured more than 40 performers including guitar legends Carlos Santana, Joe Walsh, Jimmy Vaughn, and Bo Diddley. Tickets for the second concert, held in Chicago in 2007, sold out in 22 minutes.

Eric Clapton Crossroads 2010 will be shown in select movie theaters including AMC Entertainment Inc., Celebration! Cinema, Cinemark USA Inc., Clearview Cinemas, Cobb Theatres, Georgia Theatre Company, Goodrich Quality Theatres, Hollywood Theaters, Kerasotes Showplace Theatres, Malco Theatres, Marcus Theatres, National Amusements, Rave Motion Pictures and Regal Entertainment Group movie theaters, as well as Arena Theatre (Point Arena, CA) Bainbridge 5 (Seattle, WA), Carolina Theatre (Asheville, NC), Palace Cinema 9 (South Burlington, VT), Penn Cinema (Lititz, PA) and El Raton Theatre (Raton, NM), through NCM’s exclusive Digital Broadcast Network.

Click here for a list of all participating movie theaters.

About National CineMedia (NCM)

NCM operates NCM Media Networks, a leading integrated media company reaching U.S. consumers in movie theaters, online and through mobile technology. The NCM Cinema Network and NCM Fathom present cinema advertising and events across the nation’s largest digital in-theater network, comprised of theaters owned by AMC Entertainment Inc., Cinemark Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: CNK - News), Regal Entertainment Group (NYSE: RGC - News) and other leading regional theater circuits. NCM’s theater network covers 171 Designated Market Areas® (49 of the top 50) and includes approximately 17,100 screens (15,500 digital). During 2009, approximately 680 million patrons attended movies shown in theaters currently included in NCM’s network (excluding Consolidated Theatres). The NCM Interactive Network offers 360-degree integrated marketing opportunities in combination with cinema, encompassing approximately 40 entertainment-related web sites, online widgets and mobile applications. National CineMedia, Inc. (NASDAQ: NCMI - News) owns a 38.3% interest in and is the managing member of National CineMedia LLC. For more information, visit www.ncm.com or www.fathomevents.com.

About Rhino Entertainment

Based in Burbank, California, Warner Music Group’s Rhino Entertainment was founded in 1978 and is the world’s leading pop culture label. Emphasizing flawless sound quality, bonus tracks, informative liner notes, award-winning creative packaging, an offbeat sense of humor, and a strong social conscience, Rhino continues to set the standard for excellence in the reissue business it pioneered in both the physical and digital worlds. Rhino is also expanding the definition of what a catalog music company is, as evidenced by the label’s recent name and likeness representation deal with Frank Sinatra and its multi-faceted relationship with Grateful Dead. The vast Rhino catalog of more than 5,000 CDs, videos, and digital exclusive albums features material by Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, The Doors, Chicago, Black Sabbath, John Coltrane, Yes, Alice Cooper, Linda Ronstadt, The Ramones, The Monkees, Carly Simon, Curtis Mayfield, among many others.

Contact:

NCM Fathom
Michelle Portillo, 303-792-8651
[email protected]
or
Goodman Media for NCM Fathom
Heath Fradkoff, 212-576-2700
[email protected]
or
Bennett Kleinberg, 212-576-2700
[email protected]
or
Crossroads Guitar Festival 2010
Kristen Foster, 212-582-1111
[email protected]
or
Rhino Entertainment
Jason Elzy, 818-238-6220
[email protected]

NAMM 2010: Day 2

Day two of the 2010 Winter NAMM show was crazier than day one, and I know today (day 3) will be even crazier still. The crowds in some areas of the floor were simply impassable, due in large part to all the top players making appearances. Carlos Santana appeared at a couple of booths, and single- handedly brought all foot traffic in his vicinity to a standstill. One of the longest autograph lines I saw was for bassist Tal Wilkenfeld. Her work with Jeff Beck has really catapulted her notoriety, and rightly so. She's a super talented player.

One of the highlights of the day for me was seeing Johhny Hiland jamming with bassist Dave Larue at the Ernie Ball booth. Hiland is a monster country picker who just recently switched to Ernie Ball after being a long-time PRS guy. What a player. I got some decent footage of the jam, which I've embedded at the end of this post. I also saw Hiland playing at the ENGL booth while Steve Morse was signing autographs there. What a great player.

I also got to chat with Prashant Aswani. He has a new album on the way which sounds like it's going to be awesome. It looks like I'll be doing a new interview with Prashant after the album is released (I previously interviewed Prashant in 2008). Later in the day, he created a gridlock-inducing crowd downstairs at the Spectraflex booth were he was demoing some of the new tunes.

Obviously gear is king at the NAMM show, and I checked out some great stuff, including the Moog guitar, some great Schecter models, and some beautiful Godin acoustics. Before heading out for the day, I caught some of bassist Jon Reshard's band playing outside, where I also met Guthrie Govan who was taking in the set. Very cool!

After NAMM, I heading up north to meet my old grade school buddy Josh (we hadn't seen each other in probably 25 years!) for dinner, and a trip to the Baked Potato to see Scott Henderson's trio. Unfortunately, our seats were kind of crappy (we were behind the mixer all the way to to the right), but that didn't stop us from enjoying Henderson's awesome, kinetically-charged set. 

Gotta head out to take on day 3. Don't forget to check my Twitter feed for updates...

Johnny Hiland and Dave Larue jamming at Ernie Ball - NAMM 2010

"Viva Carlos!" review at Modern Guitars Magazine

Modern Guitars Magazine has posted a review by Tom Watson of the Santana tribute album "Viva Carlos!".

Link

Review: Viva Carlos!

Jeff Richman does it again. After producing guitar tributes to John Coltrane, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Miles Davis, and Steely Dan, Richman serves up the  music of Carlos Santana for his latest project. "Viva Carlos!" (Tone Center) is probably the most interesting tribute Richman has produced so far. The rich Latin rhythms give this collection a completely different vibe than the previous tributes. As a result, the guest guitarists who appear on the album are playing in musical situations they don't normally explore. The backup band this time features Abe Laboriel - bass, Dave Weckl - drums, Luis Conte - percussion, Peter Wolf - keys, and Richman himself on rhythm guitar.

Most of the guest guitarists have appeared on past Richman tributes. Part of what makes this collection so interesting, however, are the new players Richman enlists this time around. Vinnie Moore makes his first appearance on a Richman tribute album, and hopefully it won't be his last. Moore's track "Se A Cabo" opens the album, and he sounds fantastic on this tune. Moore really brings the shred to this release; his crazy-fast legato runs and picking never sound out-of-place, and his aggressive vibrato and high-gain tone work very well here.

Another first-timer that really fits in well is Eric Gales on "Jingo". Gales' bluesy style and heavy tone make this the most powerful tune on the album. Gales sounds great navigating the new key changes provided by Richman's arrangement as well. What a great track.

Country/bluegrass legend Albert Lee appears on "Samba Pa Ti". When I first read that Lee would appear on this album, I thought he was an unusual choice for a Santana tribute. As great as Lee is, I didn't think he would fit in here. I was wrong. His crisp clean lines sound perfect on this tune.

Some Richman tribute veterans turn in nice performances as well - Mike Stern's hip lines and a fresh 7/4 arrangement from Richman breath new life into the classic "Oye Como Va".  Robben Ford sounds great on "Blues For Salvador"; he's the perfect choice for this song. One of the best performances on the album is by Frank Gambale on "Samba De Sausalito". His solo builds in intensity at it goes on, and he even throws in a classic Santana rapid-fire triplet lick for good measure. Eric Johnson plays well, if a bit tentatively, on "Aqua Marine". Richman himself takes a turn on "Europa", and plays some great lines. As is the case with many of the other performances here, he solos with a harmonic sophistication that outweighs what Santana himself might play.

Overall, this is another fine tribute project from Richman and the Tone Center label. Definitely worth picking up.

Rich

List all reviews

Viva Carlos! info and tracklist

Found some more info on the forthcoming Santana guitar tribute. The album, entitled "Viva Carlos!" (not Se A Cabo as previously reported), will be released on the Tone Center label Oct. 24th.

 

Tracklist:

1. SE A CABO Featuring Vinnie Moore
2. EUROPA Featuring Jeff Richman
3. OYE COMO VA Featuring Mike Stern
4. JINGO Featuring Eric Gales
5. MOONFLOWER Featuring Pat Martino
6. AQUA MARINE Featuring Eric Johnson
7. SAMBA DE SAUSALITO Featuring Frank Gambale
8. BLUES FOR SALVADOR Featuring Robben Ford
9. SAMBA PA TI Featuring Albert Lee
10. JUNGLE STRUT Featuring Coco Montoya