Link: Cindy Interview
The main Santana news upfront: Cindy mentioned plans to go into the studio before the end of their two-month break to "start working on tracks for the next Santana record."
...which means it will be a while. Even if somehow they recorded an album's worth of tracks quickly (or have a stockpile to pull from) I don't think they'll be looking to cannibalize attention from the upcoming Santana-Isley release. So next year at this time at the earliest would be my bet. Maybe even 2019 as part of the fiftieth anniversary of the first Santana album (although I'm hoping that 2019 will also see the release of a new box set like we had in 1994 for the 25th).
Asked to describe the direction of this album, Cindy replied: "A lot of African influence. I mean, he’s got African influence in all of his music anyway. You know, with all the percussion, all the rhythms that they play—but this is kind of another take on some of the music that’s come out of Africa."
Makes sense - back before the Corazon project crystallized, Carlos spoke of doing a combined Latin/African album so once that album went full Latin there was probably material in various stages of completion that will be looked at as the foundation for this record. Maybe there's even a conscious intent to do a "bringing it all back home" tribute to African music for that fiftieth anniversary.
A little surprisingly, Cindy also describes her solo record as "a very guitar-centered record." She'd already mentioned a while back that Vernon Reid will be on it as will Carlos (of course) and sessions were done over a year ago with her regular band, featuring Aurélien Budynek, who she says will still appear. AND she also mentions that John McLaughlin will be turning up. No idea whether John, Vernon, or Aurélien will be sharing duties with Carlos on some tracks or if they'll all be spaced out.
Also, there have been a few mentions that Cindy was working with Narada now, but she doesn't namedrop him here, just says she'll be "in the studio." If any of you follow Neal, you know that he's been doing preliminary work on his new album which Narada will be producing as well. Makes me wonder if he might be joining the guitar army on Cindy's record for a track or two.
That's mostly it from a Santana fan perspective, although there's a lot about Cindy's musical history as well. Nothing at all about Mega Nova and hasn't been since the live show, so that promised album looks like it won't be happening any time soon. But on a positive note, we still have that Santana-Isley record coming soon, Cindy's album after that could have a lot to interest most Santana fans, and then the wheels have at least started turning for the next Santana album, which as of now has a very African focus. Again, considering it will come out on or around the 50th anniversary, there may be the plan to keep this one "in the family" and just showcase the current Santana band lineup... but then again, 2019 is also the 20th anniversary of Supernatural, so who knows...
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