Santana speaks the truth!
by jazzcat on Jun.05, 2004, under News
Santana makes an accurate
description of how jazz and its heros are respected in this country.
This is and article written by George Varga and I wanted to share it
with you!
A hippie
at heart, Carlos Santana has long championed music as a potent force
for creating positive vibrations that – as this veteran of the 1969 Woodstock festival puts it – “can change your molecular structure.”
But the legendary rocker sounded
uncharacteristically angry during a discussion about the recent death
of one of his musical heroes, jazz drum icon Elvin Jones, who died May
18 of heart failure.
Santana, who will be honored in Los Angeles
as the 2004 Latin Recording Academy Person of the Year on Aug. 30, is
incensed that Jones' death elicited scant media coverage. He expressed
his frustration during a recent interview from his San Rafael office.
“I'm
really embarrassed for this nation, and for MTV and VH1 and Rolling
Stone, because it was a very racist thing not to acknowledge this most
important musician when he passed,” said Santana, whose 1999 album,
“Supernatural,” won nine Grammys and has sold more than 25 million
copies.
“For them
to (play up) Ozzy Osbourne and other corny-ass white people, but not
Elvin, is demeaning and I'm really embarrassed to live in this country.”
The
mustachioed guitarist and bandleader first heard Jones in 1965 on the
John Coltrane Quartet's epic album “A Love Supreme,” about a year after
the teenaged Santana moved to San Francisco from Tijuana
and became an American citizen. He was immediately struck by the force
of the quartet's music and the impact of Jones' polyrhythmic drumming.
“When that intro comes in on 'A Love Supreme' it's like the gates of heaven
opening,” Santana, 56, said. “In fact, when I die, if I don't hear 'A
Love Supreme,' I'll turn back; I'll know I'm in the wrong place. For
me, Elvin was Numero Uno, forever, for all ages, for all existence. I
miss him terribly; I've been playing his music nonstop since he died,
especially 'Agenda' (from Jones' 1969 'Poly-Currents') with Joe Farrell
(on sax). He was a supreme drummer who was doing things that were
totally different than anyone else.
“When I
hear Elvin's music I hear the pyramids, I hear African and
pre-Columbian music, and I hear the future. Elvin is the beat of life
itself, and his music transcends 'clever' or 'cute' or any
superlatives. When he and Coltrane played, and everyone else in the
quartet dropped out, that's what Jimi Hendrix would play if he was
still alive. That's what John McLaughlin wants to play, and he's alive,
because there is nothing more pure or vibrant than Coltrane and Elvin.”
It is because he holds Jones in such
high esteem that Santana was angry at the absence of media tributes to
the masterful drummer, who was 76 when he died and kept performing
until just weeks before his death.
The reason for the slight, Santana believes, is a matter of racial and cultural prejudice.
“When
Miles (Davis) died (in 1991), for four hours in France they stopped
everything on TV and radio – all the regular programming – and just
showed Miles for four hours, all through France,”
Santana recalled. “Here in the U.S., it's embarrassing (how jazz is treated). People should be ashamed of themselves.”
MTV and
VH1 are virtually jazz-free, and the music has historically been held
in much higher esteem abroad than here, in its homeland. But Santana
believes exceptions should be made for musicians as notable as Jones,
who Pearl Jam drummer Matt Cameron hailed as “a major force to be
reckoned with” who could “wow the pants off a jazz fan or non-jazz fan”
alike.
“If I would've been running MTV, I
would've stopped all the corny stuff they show and shown one of Elvin's
(drum) solos. Because he represents the highest level of creativity,
like Duke Ellington,” Santana said.
“America is such an ignorant country. I understand that I'm hard on America,
but if you look at all the (alarming) things on CNN, (you'll see) we
need to grow up quickly. We need to crystallize our existence because
we place economic values over spiritual ones.
“I'm hurt. And if I was a little hard
or cruel with MTV and VH1, they deserve it. They need to stop showing
what they are showing, and show real musicians. Why do they keep
showing such stupidity? MTV needs to reassess its priorities.”
George Varga: (619)293-2253; george.varga@uniontrib.com
By George Varga
UNION-TRIBUNE POP MUSIC CRITIC
The SAN DIEGO Union-Tribune
May 30, 2004