Santana - 1987 "Blues For Salvador"

Santana - 1987 Blues For Salvador

Blues for Salvador is a 1987 album by Carlos Santana, dedicated to his wife, Deborah Santana. The record was released by Carlos Santana as a solo project, not with the Santana band. It won the 1989 Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance, his first Grammy ever.

On previous "solo" albums, Carlos Santana had made noticeable stylistic changes and worked with jazz, pop, and even country musicians. On this, his fourth Carlos Santana release, the line between a "solo" and a "group" project is blurred; this record is really a catchall of Santana band outtakes and stray tracks. For example, included are an instrumental version of "Deeper, Dig Deeper" from Freedom, and an alternate take of "Hannibal" from Zebop!, as well as "Now That You Know" from the group's 1985 tour. Given the variety of material, the album is somewhat less focused than most Santana band albums, but there are individual tracks that are impressive, notably "trane," which features Tony Williams on drums. (Blues for Salvador won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance).

Track listing

    "Bailando/Aquatic Park" (Santana, Thompson, Vialto) – 5:46
    "Bella" (Crew, Santana, Thompson) – 4:31
    "I'm Gone" (Crew, Santana, Thompson) – 3:08
    "'Trane" (Santana) – 3:11
    "Deeper, Dig Deeper" (Crew, Miles, Santana, Thompson) – 6:09
    "Mingus" (Crew, Santana, Thompson) – 1:26
    "Now That You Know" (Santana) – 10:29
    "Hannibal" (Ligertwood, Pasqua, Rekow) – 4:28
    "Blues for Salvador" (Santana, Thompson) – 5:57

Personnel

    Greg Walker – vocals
    Alex Ligertwood – percussion, vocals
    Carlos Santana – guitar
    Chris Solberg – guitar, vocals
    Chester Thompson – keyboards
    Sterling Crew – keyboards, synthesizer
    Orestes Vilató – flute, percussion, timbales, backing vocals
    Alphonso Johnson – bass
    Graham Lear – percussion, drums
    Tony Williams – drums
    Buddy Miles – backing vocals
    Armando Peraza – percussion, bongos, vocals
    Raul Rekow – percussion, conga, vocals, backing vocals