Carlos Santana: 'Elvin is the beat of life itself'

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Carlos Santana: 'Elvin is the beat of life itself'

By George Varga
UNION-TRIBUNE POP MUSIC CRITIC

May 30, 2004

A hippie at heart, Carlos Santana has long championed music as a potent
force for creating positive vibrations that - as this veteran of the 1969
Woodstock festival puts it - "can change your molecular structure."
But the legendary rocker sounded uncharacteristically angry during a
discussion about the recent death of one of his musical heroes, jazz drum
icon Elvin Jones, who died May 18 of heart failure.

Santana, who will be honored in Los Angeles as the 2004 Latin Recording
Academy Person of the Year on Aug. 30, is incensed that Jones' death
elicited scant media coverage. He expressed his frustration during a recent
interview from his San Rafael office.

"I'm really embarrassed for this nation, and for MTV and VH1 and Rolling
Stone, because it was a very racist thing not to acknowledge this most
important musician when he passed," said Santana, whose 1999 album,
"Supernatural," won nine Grammys and has sold more than 25 million copies.
"For them to (play up) Ozzy Osbourne and other corny-ass white people, but
not Elvin, is demeaning and I'm really embarrassed to live in this country."
The mustachioed guitarist and bandleader first heard Jones in 1965 on the
John Coltrane Quartet's epic album "A Love Supreme," about a year after the
teenaged Santana moved to San Francisco from Tijuana and became an American
citizen. He was immediately struck by the force of the quartet's music and
the impact of Jones' polyrhythmic drumming.

"When that intro comes in on 'A Love Supreme' it's like the gates of heaven
opening," Santana, 56, said. "In fact, when I die, if I don't hear 'A Love
Supreme,' I'll turn back; I'll know I'm in the wrong place. For me, Elvin
was N�mero Uno, forever, for all ages, for all existence. I miss him
terribly; I've been playing his music nonstop since he died, especially
'Agenda' (from Jones' 1969 'Poly-Currents') with Joe Farrell (on sax). He
was a supreme drummer who was doing things that were totally different than
anyone else.

"When I hear Elvin's music I hear the pyramids, I hear African and
pre-Columbian music, and I hear the future. Elvin is the beat of life
itself, and his music transcends 'clever' or 'cute' or any superlatives.
When he and Coltrane played, and everyone else in the quartet dropped out,
that's what Jimi Hendrix would play if he was still alive. That's what John
McLaughlin wants to play, and he's alive, because there is nothing more pure
or vibrant than Coltrane and Elvin."

It is because he holds Jones in such high esteem that Santana was angry at
the absence of media tributes to the masterful drummer, who was 76 when he
died and kept performing until just weeks before his death.
The reason for the slight, Santana believes, is a matter of racial and
cultural prejudice.

"When Miles (Davis) died (in 1991), for four hours in France they stopped
everything on TV and radio - all the regular programming - and just showed
Miles for four hours, all through France," Santana recalled. "Here in the
U.S., it's embarrassing (how jazz is treated). People should be ashamed of
themselves."

MTV and VH1 are virtually jazz-free, and the music has historically been
held in much higher esteem abroad than here, in its homeland.
But Santana believes exceptions should be made for musicians as notable as
Jones, who Pearl Jam drummer Matt Cameron hailed as "a major force to be
reckoned with" who could "wow the pants off a jazz fan or non-jazz fan"
alike.

"If I would've been running MTV, I would've stopped all the corny stuff they
show and shown one of Elvin's (drum) solos. Because he represents the
highest level of creativity, like Duke Ellington," Santana said.
"America is such an ignorant country. I understand that I'm hard on America,
but if you look at all the (alarming) things on CNN, (you'll see) we need to
grow up quickly. We need to crystallize our existence because we place
economic values over spiritual ones.

"I'm hurt. And if I was a little hard or cruel with MTV and VH1, they
deserve it. They need to stop showing what they are showing, and show real
musicians. Why do they keep showing such stupidity? MTV needs to reassess
its priorities."

--
* David Beardsley
* microtonal guitar
* http://biink.com/db

Personally the idea of MTV or for that matter the main stream music press to
mention Elvin would have struck me as nothing more than a way to legitimize
themselves. I am sorry that Carlos even bother to concern himself with
something that is little more than masturbation material for 12 year olds.

I had the fortune to shake Fellini's hand working at the oscars , but was
appalled that they threw him a bone , just because he was near death. These
people never put a dime into what he did. My sense the latter was there mainly
for 'research' into decadence.

He would stare at the workers working more than gaze his eyes upon those who
were trying to place themselves as his peers.

There is something perverse in the way we celebrate peoples death. God help
we do something when they are alive.
-- -Kraig Grady
North American Embassy of Anaphoria Island
http://www.anaphoria.com
The Wandering Medicine Show
KXLU 88.9 FM WED 8-9PM PST

Santana bites the hand that feeds him or the mouth he feeds?

They play his sad shit. He's managed to get his guitar sound back
to it's previous glory, but the the material is so MTV friendly
that he shouldn't talk.

dB

kraig grady wrote:

>Personally the idea of MTV or for that matter the main stream music press to
>mention Elvin would have struck me as nothing more than a way to legitimize
>themselves. I am sorry that Carlos even bother to concern himself with
>something that is little more than masturbation material for 12 year olds.
>
> I had the fortune to shake Fellini's hand working at the oscars , but was
>appalled that they threw him a bone , just because he was near death. These
>people never put a dime into what he did. My sense the latter was there mainly
>for 'research' into decadence.
>
> He would stare at the workers working more than gaze his eyes upon those who
>were trying to place themselves as his peers.
>
> There is something perverse in the way we celebrate peoples death. God help
>we do something when they are alive.
>-- -Kraig Grady
>North American Embassy of Anaphoria Island
> http://www.anaphoria.com
>The Wandering Medicine Show
> KXLU 88.9 FM WED 8-9PM PST
> >

--
* David Beardsley
* microtonal guitar
* http://biink.com/db

I really haven't been keeping track of what he has been up to, but if you sell 25
million of something, what could it possibly have to offer beyond the LCD
The musicianship of his bands have always been high and hope he hasn't let that
slide.
Michael Shrieve's (drummer) performance at woodstock was phenomenal.

On another level, he can do no wrong for me as i happen to see him numerous times
when he would play for free at Carlos Chavez speeches. I think it did allot for the
music in East LA as that is where most of these took place.

David Beardsley wrote:

> Santana bites the hand that feeds him or the mouth he feeds?
>
> They play his sad shit. He's managed to get his guitar sound back
> to it's previous glory, but the the material is so MTV friendly
> that he shouldn't talk.
>
> dB
>

-- -Kraig Grady
North American Embassy of Anaphoria Island
http://www.anaphoria.com
The Wandering Medicine Show
KXLU 88.9 FM WED 8-9PM PST

He's been chasing the hit for the past 35 years. The "industry"
smiled on him a few years ago, so now he gets air play (and at least a Grammy??).
I heard him while I was getting a haircut last week. No
mistaking the guitar, but the song and the singer fit
right in with the comercial format.
Did he ever record with Elvin?

dB ..more below

kraig grady wrote:

>I really haven't been keeping track of what he has been up to, but if you sell 25
>million of something, what could it possibly have to offer beyond the LCD
> The musicianship of his bands have always been high and hope he hasn't let that
>slide.
> >
He let his taste in music slide.

>Michael Shrieve's (drummer) performance at woodstock was phenomenal.
> >

He's great.

>On another level, he can do no wrong for me as i happen to see him numerous times
>when he would play for free at Carlos Chavez speeches. I think it did allot for the
>music in East LA as that is where most of these took place.
>
>David Beardsley wrote:
>
> >
>>Santana bites the hand that feeds him or the mouth he feeds?
>>
>>They play his sad shit. He's managed to get his guitar sound back
>>to it's previous glory, but the the material is so MTV friendly
>>that he shouldn't talk.
>>
>>dB
>>
>> >>
>
>-- -Kraig Grady
>North American Embassy of Anaphoria Island
> http://www.anaphoria.com
>The Wandering Medicine Show
> KXLU 88.9 FM WED 8-9PM PST
>
>
>
>
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--
* David Beardsley
* microtonal guitar
* http://biink.com/db

David Beardsley wrote:

> Did he ever record with Elvin?

Not that i know of-But you think with Carlos being such a downright Coltrane
WORSHIPPER in no small degree
but Elvin might not have been into it.
-- -Kraig Grady
North American Embassy of Anaphoria Island
http://www.anaphoria.com
The Wandering Medicine Show
KXLU 88.9 FM WED 8-9PM PST

--- In metatuning@yahoogroups.com, David Beardsley <db@b...> wrote:
> Santana bites the hand that feeds him or the mouth he feeds?
>
> They play his sad shit. He's managed to get his guitar sound back
> to it's previous glory,

He has? Must have missed it. What recent work compares to _Lotus_?