Carlos Santana’s sweet, signature six-stringed sound once again filling the hallowed hall of House of Blues is a sure sign that things are getting back to normal in post-lockdown Las Vegas and the live music world in general. Santana put his pandemic time to good use, recording what would become his 26th studio album, Blessings and Miracles, from which a handful of standout tracks have been added to his career-spanning setlist at his HOB residency. His never-ending endeavor to coax timeless tones from his instrument is well represented on the recording, but it’s in a live setting that the musician truly becomes a conduit for metaphysical melodicism.
For Santana, life is a search for The Universal Tone, as his 2015 autobiography is titled. It’s a path that began for him as a boy in Jalisco, Mexico, where his father gave young Carlos violin lessons before presenting him with an electric guitar. After his 2019 album Africa Speaks, he was ready to create an album that reached people much as his 1999 comeback album Supernatural did. Rob Thomas, of Supernatural’s smash hit “Smooth,” is back in the fold to add vocals to “Move,” along with New York City rock band American Authors.
Chris Stapleton, Diane Warren, Steve Winwood, Living Colour’s Corey Glover, siblings Salvador and Stella Santana as well as late jazz keyboardist Chick Corea, who passed away in February after a battle with cancer, are part of the star-studded personnel. Stapleton’s co-write, “Joy,” came about after Santana called Stapleton and had a “long conversation about the state of the state of the world,” as Stapleton reveals in a video on Santana’s YouTube channel about the making of Blessings. Santana’s idea was to write a song about the opposite of fear, which resulted in the reggae-tinged tune that Santana included in early-November HOB sets.
“Nobody involved in Blessings and Miracles sounds as if they’re going through the motions,” writes Steve Erlewine in an Allmusic.com review. With Santana producing, Warren collaboration “She’s Fire” features muscular guitar injected into a laid-back pop song with drum machines and G-Eazy giving the track trap music flavor. “Song for Cindy” is an instrumental ballad dedicated to the bandleader’s drummer and life partner Cindy Blackman Santana, and features the most expressive guitar playing on the album.
Both songs have also been part of Santana’s recent sets, but one album highlight, a cover of Procol Harum’s “Whiter Shade of Pale” with Winwood on vocals, is likely only to make it if Winwood has a Vegas trip planned for the near future. The absence won’t be glaring as Santana plays classics that recently included “Soul Sacrifice,” “Jingo,” “Evil Ways,” “Black Magic Woman” and “Oyo Como Va,” as well as a cover of The Zombies’ “She’s Not There.”
Santana’s inspiration shows no sign of slowing, fueled by a multigenerational fan base. “I’m 74, and somehow I’m still relevant,” he says later in the video. “It means if I play the right song at the right time, grandparents, parents, teenagers and children will go, ‘Play it again!’”
House of Blues at Mandalay Bay, 702.632.7600
Click here for your free subscription to the weekly digital edition of Las Vegas Magazine, your guide to everything to do, hear, see and experience in Southern Nevada. In addition to the latest edition emailed to every week, you’ll find plenty of great, money-saving offers from some of the most exciting attractions, restaurants, properties and more! And Las Vegas Magazine is full of informative content such as restaurants to visit, cocktails to sip and attractions to enjoy.
