January 10, 2013

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Carlos Santana is getting ready to play his first concert of 2013, a January 19 show that kicks off the latest installment of his ongoing residency at Las Vegas' House of Blues at the Mandalay Bay Hotel. On the new music front, the guitar legend tells ABC News Radio that he doesn't have any immediate recording plans, although he says a couple of projects are on the horizon.

Among these is a new album that will be overseen by music mogul Clive Davis, who's helped guide Santana and his band's career since the 1960s and who was behind the group's massively successful 1999 release Supernatural.

The guitar legend also says he's interested in working on a less-commercial record that delves more into African music, albeit with some classic-rock elements.

"I [want to] do some music that I've been listening to a lot called Afrobeat," explains Carlos. "Ninety-nine percent of the music I play is black, from Africa. So I want to do some raunchy, 'skangly' guitars and organs like The Doors. You know, that kind of Farfisa [sound that's] really dreamy like." That Santana wants his music to include the influence of The Doors shouldn't be surprising, since he considers the group his favorite band.

In general, the guitarist points out that he's "really, really excited" to explore styles of music that are unfamiliar to him.

"I love waking up every morning and telling myself, 'Destroy the comfort zone,'" he declares. "Do what [late concert promoter] Bill Graham and Clive Davis [call] a career suicide. You know, like, 'Oh, you don't do that. That would be a career suicide.' No, that sounds like fun to me -- because it's adventuresome."

Also on the way from Carlos is an autobiography that's scheduled to be published sometime in 2014. While many rock memoirs often focus on the juicy details of their subjects' personal lives, Santana says he's more interested in giving fans an insight into his creative process in his book.

"One thing that I want to talk about that a lot of musicians have yet to talk about is that invisible realm where we go to create," he tells ABC News Radio. "I want to talk about that sanctum, that place that you go there and then you hear the songs before anybody else."

He adds, "It's OK to talk about tell-all gossip, but after a while, that is not so memorable as letting you know where is that place that you go to get what Stravinsky or Beethoven or Miles [Davis created]. Where is that place that you get the songs? What is that place like?

sounds interesting

His bio should be great. Looking forward to Carlos's future work.

Now this is a book I'm definitely on the look out for.

SuperSoulFighter said:

Afrobeat with Santana on the git-tar? That could be good! I wish Prince would wake up in the morning with the same thoughts as Carlos...

I look forward to that project.It seems that Carlos is now starting to release the music that he really wants to do,instead of trying to do the 'Supernatural' thing over and over (pop albums with a million guest artists).Last year's Shapeshifter was a step in the right direction.More,please.