Legendary musician Carlos Santana will release a
dramatic new EP, In Search of Mona Lisa, on January 25 via Concord Records. On
three spellbinding and transportive new songs, the multiple GRAMMY-winning
guitarist and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee takes listeners inside a
magical and deeply personal experience he had when he visited the Louvre Museum
for the first time and set his eyes on Leonardo da Vinci's beguiling
masterpiece.
In all of
the years that the guitar icon had visited Paris, he had never been to the
Louvre, but on a recent day off while on tour, he decided to go to the museum
with his wife, drummer Cindy Blackman Santana, and his family. All it took was
one look into the implacable eyes of the Mona Lisa for Santana to feel as
though something strange and powerful was taking place.
As he
recalls, "I heard her say to me, 'Hi.' It was stunning, and I didn't know
what to say back, so I just said, 'Hi.' And then she said, 'Do you remember me?
When we were lovers in another time?' It was the most incredible occurrence,
and in a way, it was kind of perfect that I had never been to the Louvre
before, because this might not have happened at another time. I had to be who I
am now, knowing that God is everywhere and that He was saying, 'I love you,' by
sending me this message of inspiration and visualization."
The
experience came flooding back to Santana months later, when he awoke from a
dream with the lyrics to what would become the songs "In Search of Mona
Lisa" and "Do You Remember Me" fully formed in his mind.
"It was the first time that I ever woke up and lyrics were there in a
tangible way," he reveals. "I could just grab them and write the
songs."
Much in the
same way that the Mona Lisa asked, "Do you remember me?" Santana
begins the song of the same name with a striking guitar figure, an invitation
to dance. Once the band kicks in with a graceful Afro-Cuban groove (courtesy of
Cindy on drums, with Karl Perazzo on congas, timbales and percussion), Santana
opens up on a full five minutes of some of his most gorgeous soloing yet – his
lead lines are stinging, teasing, crying and sensuous – before singers Andy
Vargas and Ray Greene take over.
Remarkably,
the song was captured in a single take in which Santana and his band recorded
with Rick Rubin at the renowned producer's Shangri-la Studio in Malibu.
"Miles Davis and Bob Dylan always said that the first take is the best,
and I have to agree," Santana says. "You can hear the innocence in
the music. That's a nutrient that's missing on this planet right now."
The EP's
title track sets an entirely different mood. Santana had shown his lyrics for
"In Search of Mona Lisa" to multiple GRAMMY and Emmy-winning producer
Narada Michael Walden (whose reputation as a powerhouse drummer began with a
stint in the Mahavishu Orchestra), who suggested a Bo Diddley-esque rhythm.
"I wasn't expecting that, but I immediately liked the idea," Santana
says. With Walden rocking a rave-up drumbeat (he also overdubbed bass and
keyboards), Santana lets loose with biting, wah-drenched call-and-response
phrases with singer Cornell "CC" Carter before he takes flight on an
impassioned extended guitar solo.
While
"In Search of Mona Lisa" was being recorded, Cindy suggested doing
something more symphonic and bringing in bass master Ron Carter. "That's
all I needed to hear," Santana enthuses. "I was like, 'Oh, my God. Of
course!" The resulting track, "Lovers From Another Time,"
unfolds much like the painting that inspired the music itself, with the dual
drumming of Cindy and Walden mixing with Carter's elegant basslines to create a
living and breathing canvas on which Santana splashes vibrant six-string colors
and textures.
"You
really can't go wrong when you have Ron Carter playing with you," the
guitarist observes. "He's played with Herbie Hancock, Wes Montgomery and,
of course, Miles. He should be in the Guinness World Records for
excellence."
Of
collaborating with Walden, Santana is no less effusive: "Working with
Narada is always a pleasure. He's gentle and exciting at the same time, a truly
brilliant genius. He's worked with Whitney Houston, Aretha, Mariah Carey,
Celine Dion, so he knows how to create great material. His musical knowledge is
vast, and I appreciate all that he has to offer."
Producer and
co-composer Narada Michael Walden said, "It was a great honor and delight
to work on these new songs. The tracks were composed with Carlos under his
direction of the experience he had while gazing at the beautiful Mona Lisa
painting. I listened to Carlos' stories implicitly and ran with his inspiration
and lyrics to make a new sound and a new frequency of music for his love story.
I'm thrilled about the release and this new music for the world to dance to and
be deeply moved by."
2019 marks
the 20th anniversary of Carlos Santana's groundbreaking album Supernatural and
the 50th anniversary of his legendary performance at Woodstock. Santana will
celebrate these milestones with an energy-infused tour highlighting hits from
Supernatural as well as many others from his long list of greatest hits.
For more
than 50 years, Santana has sold over 100 million records and has performed for
three generations of concert fans worldwide. To date, Santana has won 10 GRAMMY
Awards and three Latin GRAMMYs. He won a record-tying nine GRAMMYs for a single
project for 1999's Supernatural (including Album of the Year and Record of the
Year for "Smooth") as well as three Latin GRAMMYs. He has also
received the Billboard Century Award (1996), was ushered into the Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame (1998), received the Billboard Latin Music Awards' Lifetime
Achievement honor (2009), and was the recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors
Award (2013). Among many other honors, Carlos Santana has been cited by Rolling
Stone as #15 on their list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All
Time."
In the fall
of 2014, Carlos Santana released his memoir The Universal Tone: Bringing My
Story to Light. In 2018, Carlos Santana released his first MasterClass. In it
he teaches the art, heart and soul of guitar, reaching deep into the
spirituality and tonality of his playing to help students become more authentic
and expressive artists. Santana is currently headlining a multi-year residency
at House of Blues at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas.
Carlos
Santana on the web:
Official
Site: www.santana.com
Facebook:
www.facebook.com/carlossantana
Instagram:
www.instagram.com/carlossantana
Twitter:
www.twitter.com/santanacarlos
YouTube:
www.youtube.com/santanaofficial
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