Santana

Santana are one of the most prolific and original West Coast bands from the late 1960’s, who were responsible for fusing latin rhythms into a percussive rock format. Santana took their name from Mexican guitarist Carlos Santana who founded the band in the ‘musical melting pot’ that was San Francisco in 1966. Originally called The Santana Blues Band their style was distinctly different from all the other bands of their time with their first album release in 1969 featuring the keyboard playing skills of Greg Rollie whose organ sound was an integral part of the original Santana sound.

The second album, and probably their best was called ‘Abraxas’ contained their version of Fleetwood Macs’ Black Magic Woman, and the famous ‘Samba Pa Ti’, in fact every track on this album are quality compositions. 

Santana performed at Woodstock and at The Rotterdam Festival in 1970 where they produced a great set. There have been many incarnations of this band with Carlos Santana as the only originator in the various current and onward going studio projects that are part of the continuing Santana odyssey.

Classic tracks include ‘Evil Ways’, ‘Jingo’, ‘Soul Sacrifice’ and ‘Oye Como Va’.