Carlos Santana’s second album was released in 1970. It was named Abraxas and it launched Santana into the public consciousness with radio hits “Oye Como Va” and “Black Magic Woman”. Surprisingly these hits were both cover songs at the time. Today they are forever linked to Santana. However, this post is NOT about the album Abraxas. Although much can be written about this landmark record. This post is about the band: Abraxas.
Santana without Carlos
Abraxas, the band, was formed in 1994 as one-off Neal Schon project, where he and Gregg Rollie joined forces with the other former Santana members that played on the Abraxas album in 1970. This ‘Santana without Santana’ band featured Neal Schon playing the part of Carlos Santana on guitar. A task he is more than qualified to handle. The stellar lineup of future Rock and Roll Hall of Famers (Santana band inducted in 1998) that night included:
- Gregg Rollie – Keyboards
- Neal Schon – guitar
- Micheal Shrieve – drums
- Mike Carabello – congas
- Jose ‘Chepito’ Areas – timbales
Now, the actual night of October 14th , 1994 was a very cool memory for me. Besides being an unbelievable performance by the headlining band, I got to shake hands with a founding member of Journey AND I heard, for the first time, a blues player that would send me down a very satisfying path that I still enjoy. There were two opening acts that night: Sy Klopp’s Blues Band and The Tommy Castro Band.
Sy Klopps
The Sy Klopp’s Blues Band was a put-together band by Journey manager Herbie Herbert. Herbie actually WAS Sy Klopps! Herbie was already famous in his own right for ushering in the huge success Journey enjoyed. Turns out, he wanted to be onstage as opposed to backstage. What was apparent was that Herbie was having the time of his life! Herbie retired from managing Journey and jumped headfirst into Sy Klopps.
The band he put together was one that only HE could create. Not just any ole musicians were going to fulfill this rock and roll dream for Herbie. He recorded a CD in ’93. The band had a revolving door policy but on this night, it featured: Schon on guitar, Ross Valery on bass, Prairie Prince on drums. Other’s who played with Sy Klopps are listed as Norton Buffalo, Gregg Rollie, David Denny and Bobby Scott. I can not remember if these guys were on stage that night.
What I do remember is that Sy Klopps was a ton of fun to listen to. Good old blues based rock. After their set, the roadies are tearing down the instruments and folks are milling around the open floor of the Fillmore, I see the bass player Ross Valory heading my way across the floor. Ross was a founding member of Journey and an all around funny, fan-friendly guy. I made a beeline towards him and got in his path. I stuck my hand out “Hey Ross Valory!”. He shakes my hand and I complement his playing in Sy Klopps. He tells me, “You have’t seen anything yet.”
Tommy Castro
It was the perfect little interaction and with a wink and a smile, Ross Valory (another future Hall Of Famer) walked away. Next up on stage was The Tommy Castro Band. I believe that this was the first time I ever heard Tommy Castro play. There were many, many times following this night. The Tommy Castro Band was a newbie band n 1994, just releasing their first album earlier in the year. Tommy Castro is a blues guitarist/vocalist. I learned that night that the blues was alive and well in 1994. I learned that the blues is NOT an old guy thing. Here was a young Tommy Castro playing original blues songs that were steeped in traditional blues but modern at the same time. I became a big fan of Tommy Castro and modern blues that night and now, almost 30 years later, he is STILL doing it and I am still listening (Check out Tommy Castro’s latest album: A Bluesman Came To Town)
One more silly memory from that night. My friend and concert buddy, Jimmy P., was in the restroom between acts and HE claims that he heard Jose Areas drunkenly spouting off about “knowing those Journey motherf-ers”. True or not, the story stands until this day.
Abraxas
Unfortunately I don’t remember much about the actual Abraxas set that night. I do remember being mesmerized by performances of Gregg Rollie and Neal Schon. Gregg Rollie playing and singing “Black Magic Woman” was the highlight for me! Also I got a very good look at drummer Michael Shrieve. He was many years removed from Santana’s historical showing at Woodstock where he stood out as that young workhorse driving the latin rhythms behind that searing Santana guitar. His performance THAT day was as historical as Michael is talented. Abraxas went on to record an album, Abraxas Pool which is a great slice! They may have played some of those new songs that night. But the night was mainly dedicated to a great Santana band and and a great Santana album! And the great one, CARLOS, was not even in the building.
The poster we were given on the way out that night is a special one! It is an homage to Santana’s debut album’s crazy cover. The poster was a product of Lee Conklin, who has designed many Fillmore posters, The self title album has a drawing of a lion’s head on the cover. A closer look at the drawing shows that the lion is composed of a collection of little drawings of human heads, torsos, faces all blending into the overall lion. A great poster, especially as my first.
Overall, this concert was a San Francisco happening! The bands and the fans had a shared history of location and music. It was amazing to see the participants transported to an earlier time in history,
