Various Artists - 2006 "Viva Carlos"

"Viva Carlos!" features some of the greatest names in progressive jazz/fusion, blues, and rock guitar, each paying tribute to rock guitar icon Carlos Santana. These ten incredible guitarists have come together to lift up their guitars as their voices in celebration of some of the most important music in rock history.

Guitarist Jeff Richman continues his series of tribute albums with Viva Carlos!, an homage to guitarist Carlos Santana that manages to accomplish what most tributes can't: actually improve on its source.
Santana's tone and style are immediately recognizable, but when compared to the players enlisted here, the Mexican-born guitarist simply doesn't have the vocabulary. He's dabbled in the jazz world through associations with artists like John McLaughlin and Wayne Shorter. There's no question that some of his tunes are tailor-made for more expansive interpretation. But his ability to navigate his own sometimes complex changes has always been limited. His solo approach is more about finding single notes or simple lines that can thread through the changes, and letting his singing tone do the rest. And that ultimately reduces Santana as a guitarist to something of a one-trick pony.

But there's more substance to Santana's music than meets superficial examination, and his writing can be fine grist for more sophisticated exploration—just listen to Viva Carlos!. Vinnie Moore's take on the blistering "Se a Cabo applies a singing tone similar to Santana's. But his far more developed chops and extended techniques take the energy level to places Santana never could. Similarly, Frank Gambale's equally distorted but sharper-edged tone takes "Samba de Sausalito (from the fusion-centric Welcome, Columbia 1973) and, while occasionally referencing Santana's use of repetition, gives it a facelift through sheer boldness and wide-reaching ideas. Richman's take on the bossa ballad "Europa is reverential in tone, but more advanced in execution.

The real surprises here are those who stray far from Santana's tone and apply a more personal aesthetic. Who'd have thought that Pat Martino's clean and dark-hued sound would work so well with "Moonflower, or that Albert Lee—better known in country circles—could take the equally relaxed "Samba Pa Ti and reinvent it, retaining Santana's evocative melody while turning it into something far more subtle?

Credit, as always, has to go to Richman for assembling a band that understands the source material but is able to expand on it. Sometimes it's a simple conceit like the classic "Oye Como Va (featuring Mike Stern), where the familiar melody is reshaped in 7/4. It can also be a matter of applying a more visceral rhythm, as with the powerful shuffle of "Blues for Salvador, which is tailor-made for the blues-centric Robben Ford.

The fact that all the pieces (except 1987's "Blues for Salvador ) come from '70s albums may reveal a not-so-hidden statement. Recent releases like Supernatural (Arista, 1999) may be mega-million sellers, but Santana's real legacy remains with the string of albums he released between 1969 and 1977. Viva Carlos! respects that legacy but reinvents it through rearrangement and employing guitarists who speak with a more advanced language. This music will appeal to fans and, perhaps surprisingly, non-fans alike.

There are two sides of Carlos Santana which the record buying public has long become familiar with -- the groundbreaking Latin/jazz fusion guitarist of the '60s and '70s, and the mainstream pop/rocker of the early 21st century. Thankfully, the tracks covered on the 2006 Santana tribute, Viva Carlos!, focus entirely on the former era. With a backing band comprised of drummer Dave Weckl, bassist Abe Laboriel, keyboardist Peter Wolf, and percussionist Luis Conte, some of the most renowned names of jazz fusion guitar are included (Robben Ford, Frank Gambale, Pat Martino, Mike Stern), as well as rockers (Eric Gales, Eric Johnson, Vinnie Moore), and even a country picker (Albert Lee). Most tribute albums tend to be mixed bags, but Viva Carlos! proves to be one of the more consistent ones out there, since the performances tend to be quite similar throughout, like Mike Stern's "Oye Como Va" and Coco Montoya's "Jungle Strut." As one of the more criminally underrated/overlooked guitarists, any Santana tribute is a welcome one.

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Tracks Listing:

1. Vinnie Moore: Se A Cabo (4:42)
2. Jeff Richman: Europa (4:42)
3. Eric Gales: Jingo (6:40)
4. Mike Stern: Oye Como Va (4:58)
5. Pat Martino: Flor D'Luna (5:24)
6. Eric Johnson: Aqua Marine (4:53)
7. Frank Gambale: Samba De Sausalito (4:36)
8. Robben Ford: Blues For Salvador (4:26)
9. Albert Lee: Samba Pa Ti (5:01)
10. Coco Montoya: Jungle Strut (4:58)

Total Time 50:20

Personnel:

- Vinnie Moore / guitars
- Jeff Richman / guitars
- Eric Gales / guitars
- Mike Stern / guitars
- Pat Martino / guitars
- Eric Johnson / guitars
- Frank Gambale / guitars
- Robben Ford / guitars
- Albert Lee / guitars
- Coco Montoya / guitars
- Luis Conte / percussion
- Abe Laboriel / bass
- Jeff Richman / rhythm guitar
- Dave Weckl / drums
- Peter Wolf / keyboards