I Was There When…Carlos Santana and John McLaughlin Elevated Saratoga in 1973

Santana – McLaughlin
August 26th, 1973
Saratoga Performing Arts Center
Saratoga, N.Y.

Carlos Santana and John McLaughlin have joined forces on more than one occasion over the years, but in support of the single studio album they recorded together, Love Devotion and Surrender, the duo conducted only one tour of live concerts. The appearance at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center on August 26th, 1973, the opening of that run, no doubt met and exceeded the expectations of all who had procured and treasured the record since its release the previous autumn.

Not surprisingly, the concept of the concert matched that of the recording sessions, essentially a collection of familiar tunes and originals in a similar vein, arranged to feature the guitars of the two principals. Under that series of interactions, Mahavishnu drummer Billy Cobham pummeled his kit with nearly equal prominence, while bassist Doug Rauch, a recruit from the Santana band of the era, percolated through those fusillades of rhythm as heatedly as his bandmate Armando Peraza on percussion, above and around which flowed the alternately fluid and crisp sounds of Larry Young’s keyboards (his cache here unquestionable having been a member of Tony Williams’ Lifetime with Mclaughlin).

The improvisations that took place for the better part of the show, of increasingly extended duration on the title tune of the album and John Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme,” were similar to a guitar duel called “Flame Sky,” which would subsequently appear as a centerpiece on the next release of Santana’s group, Welcome. The roiling rhythms rose and fell, as did the intensity of the interplay between Santana and McLaughlin, to the point that it was oftentimes difficult if not impossible to tell who was elevating the level of inspiration most: the soloists or the rhythm section. But then a smile of rhapsody broke on the usually stoic faces above the fretboards and it didn’t matter…

That said, perhaps because it was the opening night, the improvisations were not often the collective creation of intricacy and imagination they might’ve been: The two guitarists followed the tendency they displayed in the studio — that is, to engage in call and response rather than embroider at length on the ideas stated by their counterpart or their accompanists. Nevertheless, that comparative shortfall paled next to the thrill of seeing these musicians together on stage.

With Devadip Carlos Santana following a spiritual and creative epiphany as he pursued a more broad palette of sounds inside and outside his own band, Mahavishnu John McLaughlin was his logical mentor as leader of the band that had brought jazz-rock fusion to its pinnacle; seemingly on only the first of many crests in extending the legacy of Miles Davis, the British musician would go on to explore Indian music as intently as electric music in the years to come, while his protégé returned to more mainstream, commercially viable projects by 1977.

As a result, this one of a short series of stage collaborations transcended the cliché of “once in a lifetime” events because the performance was as uniquely moving as the alliance itself. Exemplified by the album cover photo of the two men together, clearly of similar mind, heart and soul, their connection found its most pure and abiding expression in musicianship that brought the willing audience to a state of bliss they carried beyond the open-air venue of upstate New York.

Setlist

01. Band Introductions
02. Meditation
03. Flame Sky
04. A Love Supreme
05. I’m Aware Of You
06. Love, Devotion, Surrender
07. Taurian Matador
08. Let Us Go Into The House Of The Lord

Lineup

Devadip Carlos Santana – guitar
Mahavishnu John McLaughlin – guitar
Khalid Rasin (Larry Young) – keyboards
Doug Rauch – bass
Armando Peraza – percussion, vocal in “A Love Supreme”
Billy Cobham – drums