Soul Sacrifice: The Santana Story [Paperback]

Simon Leng (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 2000

Soul Sacrifice is the first ever biography of Carlos Santana-the most famous Latin American musician in the world. This genuine "rags to riches" story traces his life from a childhood playing Mariachi music on the streets of Tijuana, through to worldwide superstardom.

Founded on his own unique Afro-Latin-Blues guitar sound, his eponymously-named multi-racial band, emerged from the late sixities San Francisco scene and gained instant legendary status following their raptuously received set at Woodstock. Through subsequent LPs like Abraxas and Santana III, the band have gone on to sell over 35 million albums and played to millions across the globe. Carlos Santana's musical journey has also embraced a number of intriguing tangents, including complex jazz odysseys like Caravanserai and Welcome and collaborations with John McLaughlin, Alice Coltrane and Herbie Hancock.

After receiving a lifetime achievement award from Billboard magazine in 1996, Santana recently returned to the fray with his first studio album in seven years. Featuring collaborations with Lauryn Hill, Dave Matthews and Eric Clapton, Supernatural once again placed Santana at the number one spot on Billboard's US chart-as did its first single, "Smooth"-confirming the longevity of Santana's appeal.

Simon Leng has enjoyed unprecedented access to band members and associates, and most importantly Carlos Santana himself, producing a gripping portrait of a World Music pioneer who is also one of the most distinctive and influential guitarist of all time.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Leng, a former editor of Santana magazine, offers the first full-scale biography of guitarist Carlos Santana, known for his masterful fusing of rock, blues, jazz, salsa, funk, and reggae. Beginning with his childhood in Mexico, he traces Santana's musical development as a violinist in Tijuana with his father to his early fascination with American blues and jazz; his reluctant move to San Francisco and chance meeting with rock impresario Bill Graham, who helped him land his first performance and record contract; his 1970 masterpiece, Abraxas; his work with guitar hero John McLaughlin; his move toward fusion jazz in the 1970s and commercial pop during the 1980s; and, finally, his recent resurgence in 1999 with his multiple-Grammy-winning Supernatural, which paired him with new stars like Lauryn Hill and Rob Thomas. Through many interviews with Santana and various band members, Leng provides a solid description of Santana's career, with few surprises for the rock aficionado. This work will provide fans with a competent biography of a long-lasting and sometimes overlooked rock icon until a more in-depth study appears.
-David P. Szatmary, Univ. of Washington, Seattle
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

In his 1960s heyday, Carlos Santana was the Latino guitar god, not quite on an artistic par with Hendrix but certainly equal to the then increasingly boring Clapton. Leng fully covers the breakup of the band Santana and Santana the man's subsequent associations with Sri Chinmoy and speedy-fingered guitarist par excellence John McLaughlin. He elides some of the more adventurous groupie-accompanied tour high jinx alleged in other, more scurrilous texts, so that the only cautionary note to be sounded about the book is that it is definitely of the hushed-tones-and-sunny-disposition school of rock journalism, as opposed to the junkie-behind-every-door school of same. It lays out the facts and chronologies, and sports a serviceable index, generous discography, and annotated directory of "Santana Players, Off-shoots and Visitors." The time couldn't be riper for a Santana biography, what with his triumph at this year's Grammy fest, and this is a pretty good one. Act fast, though, for how long can Santana's new fame last in a Ricky Martin world? Mike Tribby
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Firefly Publishing (February 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0946719292
• ISBN-13: 978-0946719297
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,039,479 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good book about a great artist, September 21, 2000

By 

Albert Mora (Costa Mesa, California USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Soul Sacrifice: The Santana Story (Paperback)

First, I am a professional guitarist of 25 years who believes Carlos Santana has only four guitar peers: Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, George Benson, and John McLaughlin. So this is a biased review. And now the review:

It's about time a book attempts to document the history and significance of this important musician and band. Mr. Leng, a first-time author, has done a fine job. Here are six challenges that Mr. Leng met with impressive success:

(1) Explaining how a very specific aspect of Mexican music - playing melodies expressively - influenced Carlos's style.

(2) Explaining how each individual member influenced the band's sound.

(3) Explaining the difficulties of keeping everyone - from pop fans to jazz fans to record companies to managers to musicians - happy.

(4) Explaining Carlos's conscious recording of "corny" commercial music to finance the recording of his more adventuresome music.

(5) Explaining how Carlos is trapped (for better and for worse) in the "Santana Band."

(6) Explaining the true weight / quality / genius / level / importance / influence of Carlos and the band.

(7) Explaining the greatness (and that's an understatement) of the percussionists which have played in the band, particularly Armando Peraza.

(8) Documenting the long list of non-Santana band artists with whom Carlos has recorded.

Sooner or later a professional music historian will publish a more comprehensive book - say 1,000 pages. This book will be aimed at more serious students of music history.

The book will expand as follows:

(a) It will discuss Carlos's equipment. Carlos has influenced electric guitar and amplifier design more than any other modern guitarist except Jimi Hendrix. (b) It will explain in musical terms why Carlos's playing has so much "feeling." Put simply, Carlos uses a large variety of subtle nuances to make every note count. Like Pavarotti and Isaac Stern.

(c) It will contain hundreds of photos.

I wish I could be the author of this great book. I would title it "Espiritu - Carlos Santana."

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A long awaited book finally arrived., April 22, 2000

By 

C. J. "CJ "cruizerman"" (Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Soul Sacrifice: The Santana Story (Paperback)

Simon Leng the author is to be commended for writing this comprehensive volume so crammed with facts, that it demands a second or third read to fully digest the plethora of information.

The Author starts off by giving us a sufficiently detailed description of Mexican culture and customs, detailing Jose Santana's (Carlos' father) life as a Mariachi violinist, tutoring his son in the art of Mexican street music. Moving on to details of Carlos' early days right up to the formation of the early Santana bands. From then on the story of Carlos and the Santana bands is told in a collective manner that takes in the making of each album from the very first one right through to "Supernatural".

The reader is perfumed with inside information, the politicking, the rationale and other events behind each of Santana's releases. The lives of other musicians, key figures or otherwise, are also touched upon, bringing meaning and life to such well known names as "Chepito" Areas, Wayne shorter, as well as the lesser known ones that most fans of Santana would know little or nothing about.

To this end Leng is to be commended for a job well done, but falls short of expectations in the pictures department. Considering that Santana is such a colorful entity, giving us black and white shots is a disappointment. Still the pictures are good ones just the same but a poor effort for a book of this kind, and for this it misses out on the fifth star rating. Thirteen photos are provided grouped together on glossy paper, plus one on the back cover.

One annoying aspect is Leng's persistence in referring to Carlos as "the Mexican", and other musicians as well by their nationality. Although this descriptive tool can be effective within context, its persistence to the very end is rather banal.

The book also provides us with two surprises, a description of the night Jaco Pastorious got killed, and the fact that Carlos Santana cannot read music. At the very end is a treasure trove of information in the form of two discographies-- original releases, and guest appearances. Santana devotees will find this an invaluable tool for tracking down recordings of Carlos playing on other artists' albums. A real bonus for any musicologist or interested person, is a compilation of all musicians that have ever been involved with the Santana band, as well as offshoot bands, all with micro-biographies attached.

Definitely value for money, this book not only furnishes historical facts but makes for a useful source of reference as well. Highly recommended.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Finally, A Santana Bio, July 6, 2000

By 

"skapunkbluesjazzrock" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Soul Sacrifice: The Santana Story (Paperback)

This biography does an excellant job in covering the early life of Carlos Santana and his entire career in his band. The information is based mostly on facts, and doesn't offer enough emotional insight from Carlos and his other band members. This book also didn't have enough about Carlos Santana's spiritual and political views. Basically, this book does an amazing job at covering the chronology of the band,information about each album, and information about the different guys who played with the band at one time or another. Look mainly to this book for straight facts and an excellant biography of Carlos' early life and the beginning of the first Santana band. Don't be surprised if there isn't much emotional insight or highly detailed information about the Santana band past 1974. The only thing better than this book would be if Carlos wrote his own biography.