SALVADOR SANTANA
''KEYBOARD CITY''
FEBRUARY 2 2010
38:43
1 - Intro/0:41
2 - We Got Somethin'/3:29
3 - Don't Even Care/3:11
4 - Under The Sun/3:34
5 - Video Game, Save My Life/3:09
6 - Keyboard City/4:28
7 - Don't Do It/3:23
8 - This Day (Belongs To You)/3:00
9 - Truth Fears No Questions/4:28
10 - Salaboutmoney/2:24
11 - Get Silly/2:36
12 - Keep Smiling/3:50
All Tracks By Money Mark, Salvador Santana
Ulises Bella /Clarinet, Sax (Baritone), Saxophone
Dawn Bishop /Vocals (Background)
Eric Bobo /Kalimba
Mike Bolger /French Horn, Trumpet
Sheffer Bruton /Trombone
DJ Ralph M. /Scratching
Joel Harper /Didjeridu
Quincy McCrary /Vocals
Money Mark /Bass, Drums, Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals
Alfredo Ortiz /Congas, Drums, Percussion
Salvador Santana /Bass, Clavinet, Drums, Keyboards, Organ, Piano, Vocals, Vocoder, Wurlitzer
Sherry Pruitt /Vocals
REVIEW
by Thom Jurek
When Salvador Santana issued his debut album in 2008 as SSB -- an acronym for Salvador Santana Band -- it was an eclectic if not particularly memorable recording. On Keyboard City, Santana hooked up with Money Mark to co-write and co-produce the album. There are other musical collaborators, but this is truly a solo album. The tunes are tighter, yet more complex than on his debut. Check “Video Game, Save My Life,” where slippery hip-hop beats, icy keyboards, Money Mark’s guitar, and sine wave generators rub up against rubbery basslines, drums (Santana's own), and Alfredo Ortiz's percussion to create a nocturnal, futurist vibe whose groove won’t quit. On “Under the Sun,” Ortiz and backing vocalist Dawn Bishop help him create a multi-layered, synth driven Latin-flavored pop tune with an airy, funky, Afro-Cuban vibe. It has backbone-slipping beats and a killer synthetic horn chart that sounds utterly natural. On the shimmering club jazz of the title track, Santana mans a vocoder and plays everything except hand percussion. It's a stone killer. The spoken word and gospel groove on “This Day (Belongs to You)” could have been recorded by Build an Ark. Money Mark mans the bass; Joel Harper plays lap steel; and Ortiz adorns it tastefully with his righteous percussion skills. But it’s the backing vocals and ad libs -- courtesy of Bishop and Sherry Pruitt over Santana’s drums and keyboards -- that make it transcendent. A trace of Herbie Hancock's “Rockit” is felt on tracks like “Truth Fears No Questions,” though exotic instruments such as kalimba, didgeridoo, and clarinet are employed giving it a more organic feel, stretching it past that influence. The straight-up funk-fused-with-hip-hop on “Salaboutthemoney” is dancefloor ready. Keyboard City is a vast improvement over its predecessor; it’s still wildly adventurous, but Santana is grounded in his approach to experimentation and more focused on groove consciousness even as musical and sonic ideas assert themselves freely in the mix.
BIOGRAPHY
by Steve Leggett
Keyboardist Salvador Santana was born in the San Francisco Bay area in 1983, the son of guitarist Carlos Santana and poet and writer Deborah Santana, a pedigree that certainly gave him a lot of creative DNA. He began playing the piano when he was only five years old, going on to study at the San Francisco School of the Arts High School, where he also took up playing the timpani. He later attended the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia and was a skilled enough musician to collaborate on “El Farol” from his father’s 1999 album, Supernatural. In 2004 he formed his own group, the Salvador Santana Band, with Emerson Cardenas (bass), Quincy McCrary (keyboards), Woody Aplanalp (guitar), Tony Austin (drums), and José Espinoza (saxophone and percussion). The band released an album, the eclectic SSB (for Salvador Santana Band), in 2008 before parting ways. Santana next released a solo album, Keyboard City, which he co-wrote and co-produced with Money Mark, in 2010, and it was an effective blend of Santana's various influences and streams, mixing funk with jazz, hip-hop, and soul.
DoWnLoAd
''KEYBOARD CITY''
FEBRUARY 2 2010
38:43
1 - Intro/0:41
2 - We Got Somethin'/3:29
3 - Don't Even Care/3:11
4 - Under The Sun/3:34
5 - Video Game, Save My Life/3:09
6 - Keyboard City/4:28
7 - Don't Do It/3:23
8 - This Day (Belongs To You)/3:00
9 - Truth Fears No Questions/4:28
10 - Salaboutmoney/2:24
11 - Get Silly/2:36
12 - Keep Smiling/3:50
All Tracks By Money Mark, Salvador Santana
Ulises Bella /Clarinet, Sax (Baritone), Saxophone
Dawn Bishop /Vocals (Background)
Eric Bobo /Kalimba
Mike Bolger /French Horn, Trumpet
Sheffer Bruton /Trombone
DJ Ralph M. /Scratching
Joel Harper /Didjeridu
Quincy McCrary /Vocals
Money Mark /Bass, Drums, Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals
Alfredo Ortiz /Congas, Drums, Percussion
Salvador Santana /Bass, Clavinet, Drums, Keyboards, Organ, Piano, Vocals, Vocoder, Wurlitzer
Sherry Pruitt /Vocals
REVIEW
by Thom Jurek
When Salvador Santana issued his debut album in 2008 as SSB -- an acronym for Salvador Santana Band -- it was an eclectic if not particularly memorable recording. On Keyboard City, Santana hooked up with Money Mark to co-write and co-produce the album. There are other musical collaborators, but this is truly a solo album. The tunes are tighter, yet more complex than on his debut. Check “Video Game, Save My Life,” where slippery hip-hop beats, icy keyboards, Money Mark’s guitar, and sine wave generators rub up against rubbery basslines, drums (Santana's own), and Alfredo Ortiz's percussion to create a nocturnal, futurist vibe whose groove won’t quit. On “Under the Sun,” Ortiz and backing vocalist Dawn Bishop help him create a multi-layered, synth driven Latin-flavored pop tune with an airy, funky, Afro-Cuban vibe. It has backbone-slipping beats and a killer synthetic horn chart that sounds utterly natural. On the shimmering club jazz of the title track, Santana mans a vocoder and plays everything except hand percussion. It's a stone killer. The spoken word and gospel groove on “This Day (Belongs to You)” could have been recorded by Build an Ark. Money Mark mans the bass; Joel Harper plays lap steel; and Ortiz adorns it tastefully with his righteous percussion skills. But it’s the backing vocals and ad libs -- courtesy of Bishop and Sherry Pruitt over Santana’s drums and keyboards -- that make it transcendent. A trace of Herbie Hancock's “Rockit” is felt on tracks like “Truth Fears No Questions,” though exotic instruments such as kalimba, didgeridoo, and clarinet are employed giving it a more organic feel, stretching it past that influence. The straight-up funk-fused-with-hip-hop on “Salaboutthemoney” is dancefloor ready. Keyboard City is a vast improvement over its predecessor; it’s still wildly adventurous, but Santana is grounded in his approach to experimentation and more focused on groove consciousness even as musical and sonic ideas assert themselves freely in the mix.
BIOGRAPHY
by Steve Leggett
Keyboardist Salvador Santana was born in the San Francisco Bay area in 1983, the son of guitarist Carlos Santana and poet and writer Deborah Santana, a pedigree that certainly gave him a lot of creative DNA. He began playing the piano when he was only five years old, going on to study at the San Francisco School of the Arts High School, where he also took up playing the timpani. He later attended the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia and was a skilled enough musician to collaborate on “El Farol” from his father’s 1999 album, Supernatural. In 2004 he formed his own group, the Salvador Santana Band, with Emerson Cardenas (bass), Quincy McCrary (keyboards), Woody Aplanalp (guitar), Tony Austin (drums), and José Espinoza (saxophone and percussion). The band released an album, the eclectic SSB (for Salvador Santana Band), in 2008 before parting ways. Santana next released a solo album, Keyboard City, which he co-wrote and co-produced with Money Mark, in 2010, and it was an effective blend of Santana's various influences and streams, mixing funk with jazz, hip-hop, and soul.
DoWnLoAd
