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Carlos Santana

‘Evil Ways’ turns into good karma at MACC

By JON WOODHOUSE 8 min read

"You have to have a supreme karma to live on Maui, or even to visit it," says Carlos Santana. "There are people who may never even see Maui in this lifetime."

The legendary, multi-Grammy-winning guitarist and former Maui resident will return to the Maui Arts & Cultural Center on Tuesday to grace us with an evening of exhilarating music.

"We feel really grateful coming to Maui and connecting with the visible and invisible rainbows," he continues. "It's like I'm replenishing when I come to Maui or the islands. I feel like I'm sucking up all kinds of glorious energy. There's something extremely divine."

Santana and his superb band arrive after touring Australia (with the Doobie Brothers) and Japan. Rave reviews from Down Under include this one from Australia's Amnplify (Australian Musician Network) on Santana's Perth concert: "Truly a master musician his lightning fast fretboard runs are pristine and yet he can slay an arena full of people with just a few well-placed notes. As always, he was flanked on either side by his two amazing vocalists who worked the crowd into a frenzy."

Mention to people that Santana's coming and you can sense the current of excitement the news generates. It must be gratifying for him that so many are moved and excited by his music.

"I feel really grateful," says the 69-year-old musical alchemist. "When we come into any venue and we hit the first note, the sound reminds a person on a molecular level that you have more in your inner bank than you think you do, and you're capable to create miracles and blessings. Those things are just not for Jesus or the Dalai Lama or Mother Teresa. We bless a turkey every Thanksgiving, why stop there?

"Somehow we have arrived, morphing ourselves into everything that we love. I was telling a friend the other day when you get in a car there are three mirrors to adjust, the left and right and the middle one. For me, I have certain mirrors that I can look in and see myself -- I have Harry Belafonte, Dolores Huerta, Desmond Tutu and the Dalai Lama. So when I navigate through the day there's a moral compass and I know I'm going to have a grand day because I set myself up with gratitude, appreciation and thankfulness."

After performing in Hawaii and some dates in Las Vegas, Santana will continue his "Transmogrify Tour," which refers to a process of transformation.

"The Transmogrify Tour means that because of the sound, resonance and vibration that Santana emanates as a band we're able to assault the senses, give people chills; they laugh, they cry, they dance and they remember what it was like to be 7 years old again," he explains. "You're not into judging and criticizing and having a cynical outlook on things. So that's why we call it transmogrify as it's a way of saying 'change your arrangements in your brain and receive blessings and miracles.'

"You come to realize after a while that miracles happen when there is willingness and you allow willingness to change your mind. Things don't happen with people that are curmudgeons or cynical.

I call them cement brains. Few things can grow with a cement mind with false pride, fear and arrogance."

The tour title also connects with our current political climate.

"There's so much in the climate right now of selling fear, probably more than ever before," he notes. "Everything's about constantly selling you fear. People on the island can grab and chew on this like good gum -- my light will see me through."

The son of a noted mariachi violinist, Santana grew up in Tijuana, in a neighborhood with no electricity or running water. In his early teens he began playing guitar and bass in local rock bands.

He formed the Santana Blues Band in 1967 in San Francisco, and the group came to national prominence after a phenomenal appearance at the Woodstock Music Festival. The momentum of that star-making set was sustained by their landmark debut album released later that year. Powered by the signature hits "Jingo" and "Evil Ways," the album sold in the millions and popularized Latin rock.

Santana explains that his unique, distinctive guitar sound came to him in his formative days.

"There's a saying about a deer. A deer was making itself crazy running all over the woods to look for musk and it didn't realize that musk was already in its fur. I tried for the longest time to sound like B.B. King and Freddie King and Albert King and Otis Rush and Buddy Guy and Eric Clapton, all the people I loved. I used to hide myself in the closet in the dark and just play, so I could get closer to those I loved in sound. Then I realized no matter how much I tried, I just sound like me. Why am I fighting it?"

On his most recent album, "Santana IV," the iconic guitarist featured the space jam "Fillmore East," that recalled the magical, psychedelic explorations of San Francisco Bay Area bands like the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Quicksilver Messenger Service, and Country Joe and the Fish.

"There was all of it from Ravi Shankar to Lightning Hopkins to Jimi Hendrix, plus the atmosphere of Cesar Chavez and the Black Panthers and the Peace and Freedom Movement," he recalls. "There were two polarities happening for me, one was equality, fairness and the justice movement, and then there's the music. For me it was what the Beatles were talking about, 'All You Need is Love,' Bob Marley's 'One Love,' Marvin Gaye's 'What's Going On' and Bob Dylan's 'Blowin' in the Wind.' All those songs from the '60s pointed towards the same thing -- healing, harmony and unity."

One of the world's best-selling groups, with more than 100 million records sold, Santana has continued to captivate audiences through the decades, fueling hearts and souls with one of the most elevating sounds in contemporary music.

The band topped the charts again at the turn of the century with remarkably successful albums such as "Supernatural," "Shaman," "All That I Am" and "Guitar Heaven," which teamed the group with an array of guest vocalists to interpret a bunch of rock classics.

Dedicated to Native American Indians, "Shape Shifter" in 2012 featured an inspired collection of mostly instrumental compositions, which was followed in 2014 with the Spanish-language album "Corazon."

Then last year, 45 years after the release of "Santana III," the celebrated Woodstock-era version of the Latin rock band reformed to record "Santana IV."

The acclaimed album reunited keyboardist Gregg Rolie, guitarist Neal Schon, drummer Michael Shrieve, and percussionists Marcus Malone and Michael Carabello.

"As soon as we started playing there was a spirit that was very alive," he says. "As soon as I hear Greg's organ and Neil playing we all become one Pacific Ocean."

Legendary vocalist Ronald Isley of the Isley Brothers was invited to sing on two of the albums' tracks. Santana was so excited by his contribution he decided to record a whole album with the soul great, which will be released in late summer.

"It's called 'Supernatural Power of Peace,' and with everything that's happening on this planet with people selling fear this CD will blow people away because it's such a balm, it's such a healing energy," Santana enthuses.

Some of the songs they interpret on the album include Marvin Gaye's "Mercy, Mercy Me"; "Love, Peace & Happiness" by the Chambers Brothers; Muddy Waters' "I Just Want To Make Love To You"; Curtis Mayfield's "Gypsy Woman"; and Willie Dixon's "It Don't Make Sense (You Can't Make Peace)."

"When you hear the CD from the beginning to the end you won't believe what we did to the songs," he says. "We totally reconstructed songs like Burt Bacharach's 'What the World Needs Now is Love.' We even do 'Let There Be Peace on Earth' at the end, and I purposely did it with congas like you're in Africa. I'll go to church if you have congas. If you don't have congas I'll stay home and look at the sky. If I need instruments to make a joyful noise, I need congas.

"We did an incredible version of Stevie Wonder's 'Higher Ground,' which my wife, Cindy Blackman, arranged and she played drums on it. And you won't believe what we did to Billie Holiday's 'God Bless the Child.' To hear the songs the way they flow together it's such a treat to your heart and ears, because it's opposite of what is happening right now with the big F word, the fear word."

• Santana performs at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday in the MACC's A&B Amphitheater in Kahului. The Event's Lawn pre-show opens at 4 p.m. for food and beverage service. Amphitheater gates open at 5 p.m. Tickets are $65, $79, $89 and $129, with a limited number of premium $149 seats (plus applicable fees). Premium seat patrons receive access to the Yokouchi Foundation Courtyard for bar and restroom access. Premium parking is also available. For more information, visit the box office, call 242-7469 or go to www.mauiarts.org.

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