Santana Shares Spiritual Messages of Joy Through Music And Inspiration At Ravinia Festival!

By DYLAN JORDAN (Open Post)

While it’s never been a mystery that Carlos Santana is one of the most talented guitarists to ever grace planet Earth, who knew that Carlos was so eloquent when it came to the human spirit?

Sunday evening, Santana wowed the Ravinia faithful with heartfelt, beautiful messages in between several ballads-Carlos stood resolute in several truths that struck a chord (pun intended) with his vast, loyal following.

Too often, celebrities weigh in on their political and world views that usually fall flat with their sometimes captive audiences. But on this night, Carlos’s simple, yet powerful messages on “Supreme Love” (congruent with one of his songs), his commentary on the vast wasteland that is prime time viewing (carrying so many negative messages) and his easy, yet empowering take on self-esteem, joy, love and particularly grace, resonated meaningfully.

Woven in between classics like the set opening “Soul Sacrifice,” Carlos’s searing guitar leads soared the crowd, illuminating his enraptured audience like an early morning sunrise. Between “Samba pa ti” to the splendid cover of Corazon’ Espinado” by Mana’, the audience was into the festivities from note one.

In addition to a complete ensemble of extraordinary musician’s, Carlos unleashed co-lead vocalist’s, featuring the “smooth” (pun intended again!) Andy Vargas and soulful Tony Lindsay, who shared the majority of the singing duties, much to the delight of their fans.

With Jose “Pepe” Jimenez driving the train on drums and Karl Perazzo and Paoli Mejas on co-percussion, it was clear that Santana was leaving nothing to chance. Bassist Benny Rietveld rounded out the bottom in conjunction with Pepe’s tasty drum fills. Jeff Cressman had the audience on its feet on multiple occasions with his outstanding trombone solos, while Bill Ortiz completed the horn section in style on trumpet. David K. Mathews displayed tremendous stage presence on keyboards and organ throughout the concert, quickly becoming a crowd favorite. During the encore, Mathews blew fans away with a killer keyboard solo that he played (get this): with the side of his head-seriously!

Tommy Anthony was the perfect compliment to Carlos with his rhythm guitar and excellent stage presence, filling in the space during Santana’s classic solo’s.

Removing any chance of predictability, Carlos surprised everyone by introducing his son, Salvador Santana, by proudly integrating Salvador and his co-singer/significant other Alex Nester, into the show. To Salvador’s credit, his songwriting, stage presence and rap/vocal ability were refreshingly current and quite good. Unfortunately, early on, Nester’s voice was initially toggling between flat, sharp and generally annoying and not an ideal fit for what Salvador was attempting to convey. It felt as if he’d retrofitted her voice into their opening song simply to provide her with a part. It was a shame because the song “Rise Up” contained such a positive message. Fortunately, the Grammy Award winning (Co-composed “El Farol” on 1999’s “Supernatural”) son of Santana was able to shake that arrangement glitch with more songs from his new “Fantasy/Reality” CD, including the title track of the same name.

Once Alex warmed up, she was much better at reaching the higher notes in her vocal register and displayed quite a healthier range. While clearly passionate about the music, one suggestion might be for Alex to back off the mic and practice a little technique, so as not to come off as too “sharp” vocally. This will hopefully come with more seasoning.

Salvador proved to be a virtuoso, both as a musician and as an excellent singer/rapper. Like Dad, Carlos, Salvador’s songs are positive, hopeful and geared towards uplifting the fans he’s reaching, while making the planet a better place. Apparently, the acorn didn’t fall far from the tree. Kudos to both Carlos and his Mother, poet Deborah Santana for their influence.

As Santana and his crew unveiled the Beatles cover of George Harrison’s “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” during one of his patented jams, it was obvious to everyone present as to how this Hall of Fame musician evolved into one of the true greats, while somehow remaining true to his roots both musically and spiritually while also evolving into a fine humanitarian. Both Carlos and his son have been heavily involved in philanthropy during the entire course of their careers, while displaying both generosity and humility to all they encounter.

With a visually colorful, stimulating light show and three screens surrounding the stage, (including one huge screen in the center behind the drummer), no audience member felt left out. Carlos and his management thought of virtually every strategy to ensure that their fan’s appetites would be satisfied from both an audio as well as visual standpoint/mission accomplished.

One of the most entertaining highlights of the evening was when Carlos and Co. treated the crowd to his outstanding version of the classic hit: “Tequila” (once again, a cover, but this time by The Champs). Santana’s long-player version was both exciting and sensual with Andy Vargas crooning the song like none other. To date, Santana’s cover of “Tequila” has surpassed even The Champs version-really cool!

As for the original songs: early on, Santana blew the audience away with “Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen,” “Norwegian Wood Riff,” and of course, “Third Stone From The Sun.”

The sexy “Maria Maria” was pure magic and my personal favorite “Smooth” from Supernatural got everyone amped, as did “Drums and the crescendo: “Oye Como Va,” the Tito Fuente cover, which had everyone dancing at their seats.

Showing his trademark class, while providing an unrehearsed nod to Chicago’s Blues greats, Carlos introduced the great Otis Rush and Eddie Clearwater to the packed Ravinia audience, allowing these Blues standouts to take their bows. Carlos displayed genuine humility while deferring to these classic artist’s and even credited them for paving the way for artists like Eric Clapton as well as himself.

Santana is a true gentlemen and historian who appreciates both the history of those who’ve led the way as well as the living treasure’s who were on hand to watch him display his mysterious, timeless talents to a welcoming audience in Highland Park. This was an unforgettable show, led by a beautiful spirit in Carlos Santana.

As my significant other suggested: Be sure to go to Spotify to explore the wonder and beauty behind Carlos Santana’s music. According to her, Santana wrote an acoustic tune about each of his children, in their honor.

For more information on upcoming Ravinia shows, events and concerts, be sure to go to: www.ravinia.org for more information and be sure to follow me @dolphinrosemuse on Twitter.