Santana
Welcome

THE REVIEW

The admiration, which over time will become true veneration, for the work and person of John Coltrane has left various traces in the discography of the Mexican guitarist, for example:
1) The choice to revisit the immortal “A Love Supreme” in a dazzling two-guitar version with Mc Laughlin, followed by the enchanting “Naima” in “Love Devotion and Surrender”.
2) The tribute “Trane” included in “Blues for Salvador” which, it is said, was inspired by the spirit of the great saxophonist.
3) Finally, last but not least, the theme of the title track "Welcome", which reprises and possibly embellishes the original Coltrane piece present in Keke se Mama from 1965.

Precisely "Welcome", along with the previous "Caravanserai", is to be considered the creative-expressive apex of Santana and his Band, which takes advantage of the vocal contributions of the soul deity Leon Thomas and the great Brazilian singer Floria Plurim. It is precisely the latter who sings in that masterpiece samba, “Yours is the Light”. The song contains one of the most lyrical and creative solos by Santana the guitarist. Another pinnacle is “When I Look Into Your Eyes”, a suggestive bossa nova written by the prodigy Michael Shrieve. But the wonders do not end here. It is none other than Mahavishnu John McLaughlin who delights us with his stratospheric solos in “Flame Sky”, the album’s longest composition (11 min.) The intense dialogue between his guitar and Carlos’s, which recalls the lyrical weavings of “A Love Supreme”, is emotionally chilling and technically exemplary.

In this album, Santana integrates both compositionally and executively the contributions of numerous artists who were steering his sound, in those years (1973), towards a Jazz-Rock open to mystical influences and ethnic suggestions. In this sense, the Overture of “Going Home” by Coltrane’s widow represents a spiritual leap of the soul towards the absolute, the dissolving of the Self into Brahman. On the rhythmic side, instead, are noted “Samba de Sausalito” by Chepito Areas and “Mother Africa” in which the great Cuban master Armando Peraza enchants on the Congas. The aforementioned “Welcome” closes, with its slow and dreamy, almost rarefied pace, reconnecting with the ecstatic organ of “Going Home”. Alice and John are still united in an artistic unity that surpasses mere physical death, true guardian deities of this unsurpassable work of the spirit.