Carlos Santana’s thirst for musical transcendence is so great he risks dehydration. He channels that passion to the masses through his instantly recognizable guitar playing, most recently collected in retrospective recording Sentient. The album is no repackaged greatest hits, though. It’s a mix of tracks showcasing Santana’s expressive six-string prowess through the years through collaborations, live tracks and a very special cover.
Santana compares his latest album, released March 28, to holiday season decor. “The ornaments are gratitude, compassion, consideration, mercy, grace,” he says in a mini-documentary about the album on his YouTube channel. “All those things are ornaments and the Christmas tree is Sentient.”
In more direct spiritual terms, he describes Sentient as energy of sound that brings people together with “resonant vibrations that bring humanity together to celebrate what? Our own divinity, our own light.” It’s hardly the first time Santana leaned into metaphysics to describe his music and inspirations, but he’s probably never laid it out more succinctly.
His 2024 single “Let the Guitar Play” leads off the album, with the guitarist’s tasty, slightly overdriven licks engaging Darryl “DMC” McDaniels in call and response before segueing into a soaring lead. The track is followed by a previously unreleased 2007 live cover of Michael Jackson’s “Stranger in Moscow” with producer/drummer Narada Michael Walden and his band. It’s lyrical, chill-inducing and emblematic of the heights Santana reaches with his passionate playing.
He’s only performed “Stranger in Moscow” once live, so although the probability of Santana playing it at his next round of House of Blues residency shows is slim, it is entirely possible he could give audiences a taste. A 2001 Latin-flavored collaboration with Jackson, “Whatever Happens,” follows “Stranger in Moscow” and would be difficult to pull off without the King of Pop’s presence.
Santana guested as a session player on “Please Don’t Take Your Love” from Smokey Robinson’s 2009 album Time Flies When You’re Having Fun, but performed on an alternate take that resurfaces on Sentient. The quiet storm track causes Santana to conjure a soulful solo reminiscent of B.B. King, much as Miles Davis challenged his jazz chops on “Get On” and “Rastafario.” Those tracks were featured on composer Paolo Rustichelli’s 1996 album, Mystic Man, which also featured Santana’s playing on “Vers Le Soliel.” Those collaborations plus “Full Moon” from Rustichelli’s 1992 album, Mystic Jazz, are present on Sentient, pulling the album in a direction that caused resonant vibrations on Billboard’s jazz charts.
Santana gets his strongest resonant vibrations from spouse/drummer Cindy Blackman Santana, who co-composed “Coherence.” A shuffle with wah-guitar wisdom married to a funky groove and percussive punctuation, “Coherence” is a preview of Blackman Santana’s upcoming album while serving as Sentient’s next-to-last track, before Santana wraps the song cycle with “Blues for Salvador.”
The latter has been played more than 100 times at Santana shows and is most likely to resurface in future sets. “Get On” and “Let the Guitar Play” have live arrangements, but the band would have to rehearse “Stranger in Moscow” together before playing it before audiences. It would be time well spent.
House of Blues at Mandalay Bay. 702.632.7600. houseofblues.com
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