Borboletta cover

Borboletta

Released

Beginning with 1972’s Caravanserai and followed by Welcome and Love Devotion Surrender, both featuring guest guitar from John McLaughlin, the triple live album Lotus and the Alice Coltrane collaboration Illuminations, Carlos Santana went on a spiritual jazz-rock journey for several years, derailing his career commercially while making the most beautiful and ambitious music of his career. Borboletta, released in 1974, marks the end of this phase; it features plenty of spacy, almost ambient jams and guest vocals from Flora Purim (plus percussion from her husband, Airto Moreira). Jazz-funk bassist Stanley Clarke and drummer Leon “Ndugu” Chancler, who’d played with Miles Davis in 1971 before joining Herbie Hancock’s Mwandishi, also appear. There are some hard-rocking and funky moments (“Give And Take”), but a lot of this album is closer in spirit to Weather Report or In A Silent Way than Abraxas.

Phil Freeman

Suggestions
Enigmatic Ocean cover

Enigmatic Ocean

Jean-Luc Ponty
The Melodic Line cover

The Melodic Line

Vincent Courtois, Reverso, Frank Woeste, Ryan Keberle
The Jewel in the Lotus cover

The Jewel in the Lotus

Bennie Maupin
Universal Beings cover

Universal Beings

Makaya McCraven
You Liked Me Five Minutes Ago cover

You Liked Me Five Minutes Ago

Fire!
Glitter Wolf cover

Glitter Wolf

Allison Miller's Boom Tic Boom
Red cover

Red

King Crimson
Unquestionable Presence cover

Unquestionable Presence

Atheist
(Without Noticing) cover

(Without Noticing)

Fire!
Pawn Hearts cover

Pawn Hearts

Van der Graaf Generator
Feel cover

Feel

George Duke
Share The Wealth cover

Share The Wealth

Nels Cline