Salvador Santana Band
Salvador Santana Band
© 2005 Various Business Enterprises
CD coming back in stock soon.
If you want us to email you the minute this CD arrives, enter your name and email address here. We will not give or sell your info to anyone, and will not use it for any other reason than to tell you when it arrives.
The Salvador Santana Band is a contemporary blend of funk, jazz, Latin, hip-hop and jam band.
try this
genres you will love
By Location
Recommended if you like ...
links
notes
Keyboardist and composer Salvador Santana’s vibrant music mixes hip-hop, jazz, rock, Latin and other world idioms into a uniquely individual and totally contemporary style. He likes to call the richly textured grooves he creates with the Salvador Santana Band, “a new blend, a sound reinvented.” Salvador explains, “It’s a mix of all my favorite music, the best of what’s impacted my life, all coming together in a new genre.”
Citing mentors including Bob Marley, Thelonius Monk, McCoy Tyner, Jimi Hendrix, Billy Cobham, John Coltrane and Miles Davis, Santana adds relevant lyrics and hip-hop flavor to a fusion of those masterful influences. He further singles out the Minneapolis-bred group Atmosphere as a force that’s sparked ideas for words and music. Their free-spirited, poetic hip-hop and positive vibe are elements that indeed resonate in the SSB’s energetic flow.
Santana’s artistic chops are also, of course, colored by'"and a continuation of'"his family’s awesome legacy. Salvador’s maternal grandfather was African-American blues pioneer, tenor and guitar legend Saunders King, and his paternal grandfather is celebrated violinist and mariachi bandleader Jose Santana. Salvador’s father is 10X GRAMMY®-winning Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Carlos Santana, and his lyrics and inspired spoken word poetry reflect the gift for writing he shares with his mother, Deborah Santana, whose first book, the memoir Space Between The Stars, was published in 2005.
“I always dreamt of being a musician,” says Salvador, who experimented with guitar, but found his calling on piano and keyboards. “I’m honored to be a part of what my family has created, and to carry the torch a few laps around the course myself.” On the lyrical end, he says, “Sometimes it’s even more intimidating following in my mom’s footsteps, because she’s such an incredible writer, and I have less experience with that than I do with music. But poetry is an escape for me, I love it.”
Born in Northern California, Salvador attended high school at San Francisco’s acclaimed School of the Arts, where he bonded with the SSB’s percussionist Eric Mendez. He also first artistically connected with SSB bassist Emerson Cardenas during his time at SOTA. “He was at San Francisco State,” says Sal, “which shared our campus, and his jazz band would come to play for us.”
Salvador went on to major in the Musical Arts Program at Cal Arts in Valencia, CA. He broadened his experience with classes in Javanese gavelan, African drums and more, but kept his emphasis on keyboards. There, he also met Chicago-born drummer Gene Coye. “I saw him jamming,” recalls Salvador, “and his ability and confidence blew me away. I admire it so much when someone is totally having fun onstage, when it looks like they wouldn’t want to be anywhere in the world but there at that moment.”
The Salvador Santana Band initially came together in early 2004 with MC/vocalist and lyricist Sammy Totah joining Sal, Eric, Emerson and Gene. One of their first gigs was opening for Carlos and the Santana Band at San Francisco’s famed Warfield Theater in June of that year, and it went so well that they hit the road and toured Europe with Santana throughout the summer of 2004. Following the amazing high of that experience, the SSB’s current line-up evolved with the inclusion of Sausalito-based vocal star Carla Holbrook and saxophonist Dayna Stephens.
Recently, Salvador also collaborated with his father on music for the audio version of his mother’s book, and he and the SSB have just completed a five-track demo of three new songs plus two bold reworks of Billy Cobham compositions. Reinvented as the SSB’s “Simple Story Of Love,” Cobham’s “To The Woman” is now a luminous arc of jazzy grooves, silken vocals and soulful notes, and his classic “Hip Pockets” is reincarnated as “SSB,” a compelling hip-hop serenade. Originals featured are the hip-hop stand-out “We Rock Da Mike,” featuring tight vocal interplay between Sammy and Carla, “Another Rainy Day” and the sublime, instrumental “Electric Moon,” which shines with Salvador’s powerful solos.
2005 also marked the Salvador Santana Band’s second tour with Carlos Santana, as part of a nationwide summertime U.S. sweep that also featured Los Lonely Boys. In addition to opening the shows with the SSB, Salvador played keyboards with Santana during their headlining sets. He’ll continue to sit in with the Santana Band from time to time on future tour dates. Currently, Salvador is focusing on developing material and touring with the Salvador Santana Band.
“I love to play live,” he says. “Being onstage is an incredible adrenaline rush, indescribable--almost euphoric. In front of all those people, I feel that my awareness is broadened, and it’s where I can be at my best. It helps me grow as a musician, and as a person. There is nowhere I’d rather be. Just put a piano in front of me and I’ll be fine.”
Check out Salvador’s interview with Jambase at www.jambase.com.
reviews
Please log in to review this album.
This is very good
author: NikinemThis is good and relaxing music keep going like this. The first five songs are a great promis for the songs jet to come, i hope.
Very Good
author: MaureenYep, this is good...
A-lu-ci-nan-te
author: NACHO ZWhere have you been before? This is the most unusual stompi'n music heard in a lot of time. Keep on in the way of the 1-2-3 songs.
A-lu-ci-nan-te
author: NACHO ZWhere have you been before? This is the most unusual stompi'n music heard in a lot of time. Keep on in the way of the 1-2-3 songs.
- author: CD Baby
A sassy mix of jazz, hip hop, and urbanized R&B, the Salvador Santana Band keeps a full-spectrum groove of earthy bass, trippy keyboards (there's that Herbie Hancock influence), and an original feel for hip hop/R&B mix something like Mos Def or Spearhead, flavored with some electric guitar riffs taken out of smooth jazz and jazz fusion. This is the kind of hybrid that is so easy to drink up and soak in- it goes down so smoothly. With a special talent for layering in the thick, luscious harmonies, this group's self-titled release is one to give a spin.