Carlos Santana Love Devotion Surrender CD

Recorded in 1972. Originally released on Columbia (32034). Includes liner notes by Hal Miller.

Carlos Santana and John McLaughlin are two of jazz-rock's finest guitarists, virtuosos who temper their fire with deep spirituality. This album is a summit meeting between the two string wizards and their respective bands; Santana's percussionists mix it up with Jan Hammer and Billy Cobham of the Mahavishnu Orchestra. The guitarists created this album as a tribute to their then-guru, spiritual leader Sri Chinmoy. The passion and purity of their belief in Chinmoy's teachings is matched by the technical facility that could only have come from the discipline their faith provided them.

Two Coltrane pieces open up the album. Santana and McLaughlin enter with all guns blazing, breathing electric fire on a raucous version of "A Love Supreme," given a '73-vintage fusion overhaul. Things get acoustic and contemplative on Coltrane's "Naima." Two blazing, all-out shredfests follow, with death-defying fretwork from both of the principals. Things close out on a reflective note with the short, gentle, acoustic-based "meditation." LOVE DEVOTION SURRENDER is a classic of the first and greatest jazz-rock era, recommended to fans of the leaders' aforementioned bands, as well as aficionados of the Tony Williams Lifetime and Miles Davis's BITCHES BREW, both of which featured McLaughlin.

The 2003 remastered, expanded reissue of the now-legendary collaboration between guitarists Carlos Santana and John McLaughlin can hardly be overstated. A hopelessly misunderstood record in its time by Santana fans -- they were still reeling from the radical direction shift toward jazz on Caravanserai and praying it was an aberration -- it was greeted by Santana devotees with hostility, contrasted with kindness from major-league critics like Robert Palmer. To hear this recording in the context of not only Carlos Santana's development as a guitarist, but as the logical extension of the music of John Coltrane and Miles Davis influencing rock musicians -- McLaughlin, of course, was a former Davis sideman -- this extension makes perfect sense in the post-Sonic Youth, post-rock era. With the exception of Coltrane's "Naima" and McLaughlin's "Meditation," this album consists of merely three extended guitar jams played on the spiritual ecstasy tip -- both men were devotees of guru Shri Chinmoy at the time. The assembled band included members of Santana's band and the Mahavishnu Orchestra in Michael Shrieve, Billy Cobham, Doug Rauch, Armando Peraza, Jan Hammer (playing drums!), and Don Alias. But it is the presence of the revolutionary jazz organist Larry Young -- a colleague of McLaughlin's in Tony Williams' Lifetime band -- that makes the entire project gel. He stands as the great communicator harmonically between the two very different guitarists whose ideas contrasted enough to complement one another in the context of Young's aggressive approach to keep the entire proceeding in the air. In the acknowledgement section of Coltrane's "A Love Supreme," which opens the album -- and on its alternate take added here -- Young creates a channel between Santana's riotous, transcendent, melodic runs, and McLaughlin's rapid-fire machine-gun riffing. Young' double-handed striated chord voicings offered enough for both men to chew on, leaving free-ranging territory for percussive effects to drive the tracks from

2003 remastered reissue of 1972 release featuring Mahavishnu John McLaughlin. The collaboration is a tribute to the jazz legend John Coltrane and includes 2 previously unreleased bonus tracks 'A Love Supreme' (alternate take 2) & 'Naima' (alternate take 4). Columbia.

Jan Hammer, Mike Shrieve (drums); Armando Peraza (congas).

Personnel: John McLaughlin (guitar, piano); Carlos Santana (guitar); Khalid Yasin, Larry Young (organ); Don Alias, Jan Hammer, Michael Shrieve, Billy Cobham (drums); Armando Peraza (congas).

Audio Mixer: Jen Wyler.

Liner Note Author: Hal Miller.

ReRolling Stone (8/2/73, p.47) - "...this music is rock; loud and insistent, it depends on monochord drones and simple modes for its structure and on sheer screaming force for much of its effect..."