caravanserai

Santana underwent major changes in their lineup and their sound with this conceptual album of psychedelic jazz fusion.  Before and during the recording of  'Caravanserai' there was upheaval in the band. Personality clashes and struggles for control of the group let to changes in management and the departure of several band members. Co-producers Carlos Santana and Michael Shrieve brought in percussionists James Mingo Lewis and Armando Peraza to replace Michael Carabello, and bassists Tom Rutley and Doug Rauch to replace David Brown. Wendy Haas and Tom Coster came in to add more keyboards. The sessions included Carlos Santana on guitar, vocals, and percussion; Neal Schon on guitar; Gregg Rolie on organ, piano, and vocals; Michael Shrieve on drums and percussion; José "Chepito" Areas on percussion, congas, timbales, and bongos; Douglas Rauch on bass and guitar; Tom Rutley on acoustic bass; James Mingo Lewis on percussion, congas, bongos, vocals, and acoustic piano; Armando Peraza on percussion and bongos; Douglas Rodrigues on guitar; Wendy Haas on piano; Hadley Caliman on saxophone and flute; Rico Reyes on vocals; Lenny White on castanets; Tom Coster on electric piano; and Tom Harrell on orchestra arrangement. Gregg Rolie and Neal Schon quit the band after the album was complete to form Journey.

Shrieve recalls: "The recording took place at the CBS Folsom Street Studios, I believe. Recording the intro to 'Eternal Caravan of Reincarnation' and piecing that together was fun. I wanted crickets and the sound of the stillness of night to open the record, so engineer Glenn Kolotkin went home and recorded crickets outside of his house and brought them into the studio. We also got the sound of a brook or a stream. Then I had Hadley Caliman come in and just play for a long time, just harmonic tones and things on the sax, and then I edited it into what you hear. That little sax intro alone took over twenty edits…that’s cutting tape editing, not Pro-Tools! Then the sound of Tom Rutley’s bass and the jazz-feel ride cymbal set the tone, with cymbal swells and tuned metallic sounds… gentle, with Wendy Haas coming in on Fender Rhodes with vibrato. The whole vibe is copped from 'Astral Traveling', the lead track from Pharoah Sanders’ record 'Thembi'. From there, the intro to 'Waves Within' featured some kind of filter that Dougie Rauch set up. 'Waves Within' was Dougie’s baby, even though Gregg Rolie contributed some changes to it. The odd time signature, the vibe was Doug Rauch. Doug was completely into odd times at this point, being a Mahavishnu fan, but all you have to do is go to the next track, 'Look Up (To See What's Coming Down)' to hear where he was at with his funk playing. Doug was way ahead of his time, and was a true innovator on the instrument. 'Future Primitive' was Chepito and Mingo, but the soundscape behind it was my idea and had me playing piano, vibes (backwards on tape) and cymbal swells. That piece goes into 'Stone Flower' with the same atmosphere. By the time of 'Caravanserai' I was really into Brazilian music and Antonio Carlos Jobim. We had been in Europe touring and one night after a show I had put on a Jobim record and had written lyrics to 'Stone Flower'. I think Tom Rutley sounds really great on 'Stone Flower'. Gregg Rolie, bless his heart, put up with Carlos and I all up in his face trying to get him to play B3 Organ like Larry Young! And you know what? He sounds fabulous! Wendy is there again on electric piano, and Carlos is playing both cuica and agogo bells. Arrangement-wise and sound-wise, 'Stone Flower' was all me and Carlos, and Carlos and I did the vocals. 'La Fuente Del Ritmo' also has some of my favorite drum playing. 'Caravanserai' was Carlos’ and my baby conceptually, and I believe that we drove everyone crazy doing it! When Clive Davis visited the studio to hear what we were doing he couldn’t believe it and said something like 'You’re committing career suicide!'"

'Caravanserai' went to number sixteen in Australia, ten in Norway, eight in the US, six in the UK, and number three in the Netherlands. The album was nominated for a Grammy for Best Pop Instrumental Performance - With Vocal Coloring.  Santana said at the time in Rolling Stone:  "I try as much as I can every day. I try to - just to see the best things in people and to have a vast understanding of what God wants us to be instead of what our minds want us to do...Through meditating I'm beginning to be a little more confident in knowing which way to channel my energy and what to thing of those brothers and siters who put me in that place - in reality I'm just exactly what they are. Eventually they will come, because most people are like that - you know, monkey see, monkey do. That's why the freeway is so crowded sometimes. Very few people are chosen to make their own way and to influence others. Very few people...It's sort of like a basket of fruit, of me marinating myself with beliefs that I have now, this faith, actually, and me waking up in the morning, and not going to bed with chicks any more, giving myself liek true discipline for awhile. I didn't want to make love to one person or three persons in bed any more. I felt that my energy could go farther than that to make love to everybody who's got ears."









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'Caravanserai'
full album:




"Eternal Caravan of Reincarnation" (Rutley, Neal Schon, M. Shrieve) -- 4:28
"Waves Within" (Doug Rauch, Greg Rolie, Carlos Santana) -- 3:54
"Look Up (To See What's Coming Down)" (Rauch, Rolie, Santana) -- 3:00
"Just in Time to See the Sun" (Rolie, Santana, Shrieve) -- 2:18
"Song of the Wind" (Rolie, Santana, Schon) -- 6:04
"All the Love of the Universe" (Santana, Schon) -- 7:40
"Future Primitive" (José Areas, Mingo Lewis) -- 4:12
"Stone Flower" (Antonio Carlos Jobim, Santana, Shrieve) -- 6:15
"La Fuente del Ritmo" (Lewis) -- 4:34
"Every Step of the Way" (Shrieve) -- 9:05