Santana - Shape Shifter

Ten time Grammy winner Santana returns with an album two decades in the making!

Shape Shifter is Carlos Santana's 36th album, and the first for his new label, Starfaith Records. The 13-song set is an instrumental tour de force featuring tracks spanning from the late 1990's to the present. It's powered throughout by Carlos' instantly recognizable virtuoso lead guitar and the Santana Band's world-class musicianship (only one song features vocals from Santana's lead vocalists Andy Vargas and Tony Lindsay).

Shape Shifter comprises mostly original compositions that Carlos has been stashing away for such an instrumental project-long awaited by fans — and he conceived the album's sequence as thoughtfully as its track selection. The songs flow together as the magical sustain of Carlos' guitar — and the spirit behind every note — makes music that breaks through all cultural and language barriers, the music of Santana.

The title track opens the album, beginning as a mellow acoustic groove, with Carlos channeling Native American spirits through chanting. The track builds to soaring heights-in addition to Carlos' driving lead, the song features Dennis Chambers on drums, Chester Thompson on keyboards, and Benny Rietveld on bass (they are the musical foundation on many of the tracks).

Other highlights include a mid-tempo cover of Toure Kunda's "Dom"; "Angelica Faith," which Carlos co-wrote with Thompson, is a signature Santana ballad in the tradition of "Samba Pa Ti" and "Europa." With "Mr. Szabo," Carlos pays homage to Gabor Szabo, whose music he brought to the fore in 1970, when he fused the Hungarian jazz guitarist and composer's "Gypsy Queen" with Peter Green's "Black Magic Woman" on Abraxas.

Shape Shifter closes with two songs that are collaborations between Carlos and his son, musician Salvador Santana — who plays piano on both-including the rousing "Canela." The final track, "Ah, Sweet Dancer," is a song Carlos first heard in a taxicab in Germany — he tracked it down in a local record store and began performing it regularly on tour. The recording features only soulful solos from father and son, offering elegant closure to Shape Shifter.

Since Santana emerged from the San Francisco Bay Area music scene in the 1960s, the group has sold more than 100 million records, reached more than 100 million fans at concerts worldwide, and been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Santana has won 10 Grammys, including a record-tying nine for a single project, 1999's Supernatural. Carlos Santana is No. 20 on Rolling Stone's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time."