Carlos Santana at 77 years-old is jamming with as much ferocity, soul, style and creativity as he was back in 1969 on the stage of Woodstock.
Currently he's wrapping up the second leg of his Oneness Tour with a pair of California gigs before he takes a breather in anticipation for another of his cherished Vegas residencies.
During his 26-date tour he has performed many of his original hits like "Soul Sacrifice" and "Smooth," but today let's give love to the covers he has made his own.
Over his long and storied career, Carlos Santana has covered close to 200 artists from Neil Young to Bob Dylan to even Mos Def.
Some of his covers have resonated so strongly with audiences that many think they are his.
The biggest cover he's performed over the year is:
"Oye Cómo Va" by Tito Puente
A staple in Santana's setlist for 55 years since he first started playing it in 1969, Carlos said people challenged him on it.
"That's not rock and roll," they told him.
"Not yet," he replied, accepting their challenge and making it one of the most loved latin rock covers of all.
Puente, the timbale master recorded the cha cha cha hit back in 1962 for his album El Rey Bravo.
It's since been covered thousands of times (mostly by Santana at 2,380), but Prince covered it 10 times, Los Lobos has covered it 200 times, and Ringo Starr of all people has played it 243 times.
"Evil Ways" by Willie Bobo
This is another song that people understandably misinterpret as a Santana original because he's been rocking this one since 1968.
Bobo was a talented percussionist who died of cancer at just 49 years old, but he played with many of the greats like Miles Davis, Dexter Gordon, and Herbie Hanco*ck. It was during his time as a session player with Carlos that "Evil Ways" made its way to the guitarist who put it on the band's first album.
"Roadhouse Blues," The Doors
Not sure how Santana relates to Jim Morrison who wrote "Roadhouse Blues" in 1970 for Morrison Hotel, but you can see how the guitarist turns the somewhat dire "the future's uncertain and the end is always near" into something far more spiritual and positive with the "I wanna take you higher" ad libs.
Santana has covered it 56 times, beginning in 2012, but one of the more memorable times was at Staples Center where he did it with Eric Clapton during the Crossroads blues weekend there last year.
"Jin Go Lo Ba" by Babatunde Olatunji
Of all the covers, this is the one he's played the longest.
Since 1967, Carlos has been covering Nigerian drummer Babatunde Olatunji's classic that was originally recorded on the percussionist's 1960 album, Drums of Passion, released on CBS records. It's allegedly the first popular LP of African music embraced by the West.
Santana told Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Heart that hearing Olatunji broke him out of his B.B. King worldview and expanded him musically.
"As they call it now, World Music, not just the blues."
Santana has covered it 2,142 times. Prince did it 11 times.
"Right On" by Marvin Gaye
"There was a time when Motown and the hippies in San Francisco, they were making music to bring humans together," Carlos explained earlier this year in Las Vegas in what could be the thesis for the Oneness Tour name and theme... although he hasn't played it yet on this tour. BUT HE SHOULD.
"There were the squares and the plastic people, and the hippies. But really we are one. We really are one people."
When you hear Gaye's original that came off his iconic 1971 album What's Going On, you can hear some of those latin sounds that probably pricked up Santana's ears. It might have also been the idealistic lyric, "true love can conquer hate every time," that clicked with the guitarist who has often said similar things,
Santana has covered it 151 times beginning in 1991. His covered it earlier this year in his Vegas Residency.
If you can't make it to California this week to see Carlos play in Orange County and then in Inglewood for the Fool In Love one day festival, catch him this fall in Vegas.
Get tickets on Santana's website.
