Santana – Blessings and Miracles (Starfaith/BMG, 2021)
“Blessings and Miracles,” the new album from Carlos Santana, presents a wide range of musical styles and stellar guests.
On certain tracks like “Santana Celebration”, “Mother Yes” and “Ghost of Future Pull II” Santana goes back to his deeply satisfying Latin rock roots, delivering fiery guitar work joined by a spectacular Afro-Latin percussion section.
“Para todos los Rumberos” is a collaboration with his son Salvador Santana and Ozomatli’s Asdru Sierra skillfully intertwining rock, Spanish Caribbean tropical rhythms and electronic dance music influences.
On “Joy”, Santana teams up with singer-songwriter Chris Stapleton on a soulful song set to an irresistible reggae beat.
Living Color guitarist and vocalist Corey Glover joins forces with Santana on a great rocker titled “Peace Power.” Santana goes deeper into rock with a heavy song called “America for Sale” with Metallica’s Kirk Hammett and Death Angel’s Mark Osegueda.
Santana and Steve Winwood present a fine cover of the Procol Harum hit “A Whiter Shade of Pale,” with a Latin rhythm twist.
Stella Santana, a talented R&B singer, joins her father on the dreamy “Breathing Underwater.”
Carlos Santana is also well known for his beautiful slow tempo melodic instrumentals. This time, he plays “Song for Cindy,” dedicated to his beloved wife, Cindy Black Santana.
“Angel Choir/All Together” feels bittersweet. It is a fantastic jazz-rock fusion collaboration with the late Chick Corea who passed away earlier this year. Both Chick Corea and Santana were fusion pioneers and this performance with memorable keyboard ad guitar work plus Latin rhythms is truly exquisite. Wish Carlos Santana and Chick Corea would have recorded a full album. The instrumental also features Gayle Moran Corea on wordless vocals.
Also notable, Cindy Blackman Santana plays drums throughout the album (she’s an accomplished jazz drummer) and Carlos’ long time collaborator Kark Perazzo plays Latin percussion.
On three songs, Santana ventured into less interesting sounds, a pop song with Rob Thomas, radio friendly R&B with Kelly Brooke and tiresome rap with G-Eazy.
Author: Angel Romero
Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.