Cindy Blackman

How often do you walk into a situation without knowing what will happen? Do you fear it? Or do you embrace it? The unknown is a ubiquitous phenomenon that can be found in the essence of a person, place, or thing. Many musicians welcome musical situations where they are unaware of what will happen. That could be during improvising or performing with musicians for the first time. Both take an incredible amount of vulnerability and trust. The unknown seems to drive them into a space and time that controls them, not the other way around. And more than likely, that’s what they want it to do. Musicians prefer the unknown to utilize them as vessels to reach their audience or even to experience their own liberation.

Virtuoso drummer and vocalist Cindy Blackman Santana will release a 17-song tour de force album on September 18, 2020. The album highlights Cindy's incredible versatility both behind the drum kit and in front of the microphone and features the creme de la creme of guitarists, including eight songs with Carlos Santana, two songs with John McLaughlin, three songs with Vernon Reid, and one song with Kirk Hammett. With multiple tracks produced by Grammy Award-winning Narada Michael Walden, the album is an eclectic mixture of old school funk and radio-friendly rock/pop combined with rock and jazz instrumentals.

Spectrum Road is a jazz-rock supergroup featuring bassist Jack Bruce, guitarist Vernon Reid, drummer Cindy Blackman-Santana, and organist John Medeski that formed as a tribute to the inspiration and music of Tony Williams' pioneering Lifetime group (of which Bruce was a member). In the process of playing Lifetime's music as a project, they became a bona fide band. All but two of these cuts are from Lifetime's catalog. The set begins with the scorcher "Vuelta Abajo," from 1970's Turn It Over album. All four members come storming out of the gate on a syncopated, intense series of riffs and stops. Blackman-Santana, a Williams disciple, plays furiously with countless rolls and fills yet never drops her sense of groove.

Bassist T.M. Stevens leads guests like Joe Lynn Turner (Rainbow, Deep Purple), Corey Glover and Will Calhoun (ex-Living Colour), Richie Kotzen (ex-Poison), Al Pitrelli and Vinnie Moore through renditions of Deep Purple favorites including "Stormbringer," "Black Night," "Burn," "Smoke on the Water" and a reggae version of "Child in Time."

Combined with 40 years of hits, Santana performed many of the songs from his double-platinum US Latin-certified and critically-acclaimed album CORAZÓN at a once in a lifetime concert event in December 2013, accompanied by many of his album special guests, all celebrating their Latin music heritage in Guadalajara, Mexico (in his native state of Jalisco). The CORAZÓN project brought Carlos back to his birthplace and celebrates Carlos’ love of his musical heritage, as well as showcases Carlos’ own personal influence on Latin music and on today’s generation of Latin superstars. Superstar guest performers who joined Santana at the concert event captured on this CD include Elan Atias, Chocquibtown, Lila Downs, Gloria Estefan, Juanes, Miguel, Fher Olvera (of Maña),Niña Pastori, Samuel Rosa (of Skank), Cindy Blackman Santana, Salvador Santana, Romeo Santos, Soledad, and Diego Torres.

Wallace Roney - Obsession (1991) {Muse MCD5423}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 290 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 101 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 39 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1991 Muse Records | MCD5423
Jazz / Post-Bop / Straight-Ahead Jazz / Trumpet

In the early days of his career, trumpeter Wallace Roney was tagged as being yet another Miles Davis-influenced player, though a focused hearing of his fourth CD as a leader will demonstrate how much he was developing his own voice on this exciting hard bop session with tenor saxophonist Gary Thomas, pianist Donald Brown (like the leader, an alum of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers), bassist Christian McBride, and drummer Cindy Blackman. Roney's furious "Obsession" crackles with energy, showcasing the trumpeter, Thomas, and Brown. McBride contributed the loping, bluesy "Black Moon," while Blackman's "Scenario One" is full of twists, dominated by her drums.