Santana featuring Leon Thomas, The Jewel In The Lotus: Santana World Tour 1973

Private recordings, 1973

1 -
2 black magic woman/gypsy queen
3 pharoah sanders' japan I
4 um, um, um I
5 um, um, um II
6 yours is the light
7 carlos santana spoken intro
8 mr. udo/the creator has a masterplan
9 pharoah sanders' japan II
10 the creator has a masterplan II
11 um, um, um III
12 the creator has a masterplan III
12 castillo de arenas

carlos santana and the new santana band featuring leon thomas

man oh man oh man. that's what i said when i first heard this. every fan of seventies jazz or progressive music knows santana's "lotus", right? and if you're old enough to remember the vinyl, a really cool desperately hard to find japan-only thing with 3 lps in this glossy origami-like package. well this is not that album, but it is that band, that incredible 1973 world tour. most of these songs feature the late leon thomas, and even more exciting, most of these songs are the repertoire not from santana's glory days but from his days with pharoah sanders.

if ever music has cried out for proper cd release as a sequel to "lotus" itself, this is it. the handwritten notes i received on the cassettes i was once given had some dates and locations. sadly i don't seem to have all that info, but melbourne, carolina, and tokyo were all on the list. it really was a world tour so you can only imagine how much of more of this music must be out there.

it's also hard to believe leon thomas himself has been gone almost nine years... he was a magical talent.

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