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SFJAZZ presents a special concert (originally filmed on June 14, 2023) with Cindy Blackman Santana and some very special guests: pop star Carlos Santana, organ great John Medeski and Living Colour guitar genius Vernon Reid. They honor Tony Williams and his groundbreaking late 60s/early 70s electric jazz group Lifetime. This tribute has its origins in the all-star project Spectrum Road, which revisited the Lifetime material and featured Blackman Santana, Medeski, Reid, and the late bass legend Jack Bruce, who was a founding member of Cream and performed with Williams’ Lifetime band in the 1970s.

Personnel
Cindy Blackman Santana drums
Vernon Reid guitar
John Medeski keyboards
Felix Pastorius bass

SPECIAL GUEST
Carlos Santana guitar

Setlist
“Vuelta Abajo” by Tony Williams
“Wild Life” by Tony Williams
“Where / Emergency” by John McLaughlin / Tony Williams
“Sanctuary” by Wayne Shorter
“Capri” by Paolo Rustichielli
“Dick Dogs” by Sonny Sharrock

ABOUT CINDY BLACKMAN SANTANA

If there is one artist on today’s music scene with the passion, fire, and percussive mastery to do justice to the legacy of the late Tony Williams, it is undoubtedly Cindy Blackman Santana. She returns with organ great John Medeski and Living Colour guitar genius Vernon Reid to honor Williams and his groundbreaking late 60s/early 70s electric jazz group Lifetime, with special guest Carlos Santana.

Made famous by her 10+ years providing the bone-deep grooves behind singer and guitarist Lenny Kravitz, Blackman has distinguished herself as a highly versatile player and composer who is as comfortable leading post-bop sessions with Joe Henderson and Wallace Roney as she is touring with pop stars like Kravitz and husband Carlos Santana, whose band she currently anchors.

Their eponymous 2012 Palmetto Records release was named for the Williams/John McLaughlin composition “Via the Spectrum Road” from Lifetime’s explosive 1969 debut, and expanded upon the original material, using it as a springboard for fresh directions, which was in full evidence on this unforgettable night.