When people hear the name Santana, depending on their generation they’ll probably either think of the ’60s heyday of ‘Black Magic Woman’ or their turn-of-the-century comeback hits like ‘Smooth’. Arguably though, the band’s most creatively fertile period was in the ’70s, when Carlos and co. were experimenting with jazz, spirituality and collaborating not with pop stars (no offence to Rob Thomas – I like Veronica Mars as much as the next guy) but with such virtuosos as Alice Coltrane and John McLaughlin.
McLaughlin (last heard from on this blog on Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew) had introduced Carlos Santana to the teachings of the guru Sri Chinmoy, which they explored together on their dazzling 1973 collaboration Love Devotion Surrender, an electrifying tribute to the late John Coltrane. It was fitting then that Santana would invite Coltrane’s widow Alice to contribute to the 1973 fusion offering Welcome, with their shared belief in music as an expression of the divine and a form of meditation.
Evidently this had all gotten too far out for Santana members Gregg Rolie and Neal Schon who left the band to form Journey, for which history will judge them harshly. They were replaced by keyboardist Tom Coster, Richard Kermode of Janis Joplin’s Kosmic Blues Band and Pharoah Sanders‘ vocalist Leon Thomas. Continuing the eclectic fusion of their 1972 masterpiece Caravanserai, Welcome still broadly operates within the band’s signature samba structure, while featuring crazy time signatures (‘Flame – Sky’) and some of Santana’s finest guitar solos (‘Yours Is the Light’).
The scene is set by the dramatic welcoming number ‘Going Home’, with which the band would open their concerts. A spiritual based on Dvořák’s 9th Symphony, this grandiose rendition is arranged by Alice Coltrane and features the distinctive, other-worldly tone of her organ, backed by celestial percussion from Armando Peraza and the great Michael Shrieve; as important a part of Santana as Carlos himself, but nobody would have listened to a band called Shrieve.
Santana and Coltrane would join forces again the following year for the 1974 album Illuminations. Years later Santana called this period “career suicide” and turned his back on Chimnoy’s teachings, saying: “This shit is not for me. I don’t care how enlightening it is.” Thank god he gave it a shot.
Find more spiritual jazz offerings on our ‘In A Tranquil Mood’ playlist or if you fancy a blast of fusion, strap in to our ‘Fusion Intrusion’ playlist!
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