It always goes around and comes around to grace, Gods grace, Santana tellsRolling Stone.
I live in Las Vegas, but I dont believe in luck and chance or fortune.
I believe in grace.
Santana revisits collabs with Michael Jackson and Miles Davis on a new album, and says he’ll never do a farewell tour.Daniel Knighton/Getty Images
And can you believe all these songs are on one album?
The album begins with Let the Guitar Play, featuring Darryl DMC McDaniels.
Rap is the music of today, says Santana.
In the Fifties it was Chuck Berry, Little Richard, and Bo Diddley.
But now its rap.
Its been rap for a while, and its not going away.
Its going to get more intense, more beautiful.
And DMC has the perfect voice and perfect message for this song.
He also whistles the opening notes.
I love the music of Cape Verde, Santana recalls.
I admire Smokey Robinson like crazy, Santana says.
When I heard he had a song that he wanted me to play on, I started stuttering.
I was just really, really grateful.
And I recorded it before he got to the studio.
To my great surprise, he really liked it.
Theres a theme in there that I snapped in from Prince of Darkness by Miles Davis.
It fit in really well.
Davis is one of Santanas all-time music heroes.
She said, Carlos, theres a guy named Paolo Rusticelli.
Hes like the Quincy Jones of Rome,' Santana says.
He wrote some music for Miles, for Wayne, for Herbie [Hancock], and for you.
And he wants to know if youll play on it.
I said, Sure.
I played on his song Full Moon.
He liked it so much that invited me into his studio to play on other songs.
And that was my connection to Miles Davis.
[There are two other Santana/Rustichelli songs onSentient: Vers Le Soleil and Full Moon.
Their song Coherence is the penultimate track on the album.
I am so blessed that God put Cindy in my life, says Santana.
We get to go into different adventures every night because we love to improvise.
He credits hislongevityto clean living and spiritual health.
I made a conscious choice years ago that I wouldnt be one of them.
Im almost 80, and in pretty good shape.
When I show up, I bring what Miles Davis called motherfucker energy.'
I think people have other priorities.
I think Gregg might have other priorities, and so does [Journey guitarist] Neil Schon.
But I do have one brother who shows up with me a lot.
Thats [percussionist] Michael Carabello.
But nothings out of the realm of possibilities.
It depends on their hearts.
One thing he doesnt ever see happening is a Santana farewell tour.
I dont think like that, he says.
Ive seen a lot of people who retire every year.
Every tour for the last 20 years has been their last tour.
When Im done, Im not even going to tell anybody.
Ill just do the last concert.
