Hot! The Official Carlos Santana Web Site

When Carlos Santana was first approached by his friend Clive Davis to discuss the record executive s idea for a new concept album, the legendary guitarist and bandleader was reticent, as is his nature. After all, these guitar classics , as the project came to be known, were the Mona Lisas, in Carlos words, songs done by the da Vincis of our time, legends of the guitar: Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, George Harrison. How could Carlos put his unique stamp on them? Quite supremely, it turns out. Once the organic song selection process got underway, the creation of GUITAR HEAVEN: THE GREATEST GUITAR CLASSICS OF ALL TIME, became a labor of love for everyone involved: Carlos, his seasoned working Santana band (recording their first full-length studio album together), the amazing cast of megastar lead vocalists, each hand-picked for their chosen tracks, hit-making producers Howard Benson and Matt Serletic, and of course Clive. His association with Santana has outlasted the 1960s, 70s, 80s. 90s, and 00s, and now kicks off another decade in the 10s with GUITAR HEAVEN

The turning point, reveals Clive, was when he called me up and in the inimitable Santana way he said, You know, I ve really just trusted three people. I ve trusted Bill Graham, I ve trusted Miles Davis musically, and I ve trusted you, and this is the time for a renewal of that trust and I will proceed . Carlos underscores this point: To create these songs, he affirms, it took an incredible amount of trust from Howard Benson, and from Matt Serletic, and all these incredible singers, all these incredible musicians, they had to trust me, and I trusted Clive. So it s a chain reaction of love, because that s the highest form of love that there is on this planet: Trust.

These synergies explode throughout GUITAR HEAVEN from the opening sonic boom of Led Zeppelin s Whole Lotta Love featuring Chris Cornell, followed by the Rolling Stones Can t You Hear Me Knockin with Scott Weiland, all the way to the voodoo-laced closing moments of Howlin Wolf s (via the Jeff Beck Group) I Ain t Superstitious featuring Jonny Lang. Clive s intention to keep Santana s music fresh for today s fans of Guitar Hero and Rock Band is achieved by guest appearances from Chris Cornell (on Led Zeppelin s Whole Lotta Love ), Pat Monahan (on Van Halen s Dance the Night Away ), Chester Bennington and Ray Manzarek (on The Doors Riders on the Storm ), Rob Thomas (on Cream s Sunshine Of Your Love), Scott Weiland (on the Rolling Stones Can t You Hear Me Knockin ), Chris Daughtry (on Def Leppard s Photograph ), Gavin Rossdale (on T. Rex s Bang A Gong ) to rapper Nas with newcomer Robyn Troup (on AC/DC s Back In Black ), veteran Joe Cocker (on Jimi Hendrix s Little Wing ), and more.

Carlos was barely out of his teens himself when he first ran into Joe Cocker & the Grease Band circa 1968, the year that Jimi Hendrix s Axis: Bold As Love catalyzed America. To describe Joe Cocker, Carlos invokes pure, pristine, trueness He does what a consummate artist should do, he makes time disappear, gravity disappear, problems disappear. Bob Dylan calls it forever young, I call it eternally relevant. Cocker s delivery of Little Wing (from Axis), one of many showstopping moments of GUITAR HEAVEN