Carlos Santana says his upcoming compilation, “Multi Dimensional Warrior,” due Sept. 30 on Columbia/Legacy, is “a love letter to fans” — as well as a reminder that his repertoire includes more than the hit duets he’s been releasing since 1999’s “Supernatural.”
Santana personally supervised the two-disc, career-spanning “…Warrior,” which features 28 songs from 1970-2002, as well as the artwork and package design. “I basically turned it all in, the complete finished work,” he says. He also dropped some new overdubs onto five of the songs, adding guitar to “Spirit” and “Right Now,” while Santana band member Chester “C.T.” Thompson played new piano parts for “Let There Be Light” and Barbara Higbie played fresh harmonica for that song and “Praise.”
“When I heard them, I said, ‘Damn, how come I left so much space? I feel like playing more guitar,'” Santana says of the augmented tracks. “So I went into the studio and I laid more guitars…”
“…Warrior” is just one of “a lot of things that we’re doing,” according to Santana. He’s put his proposed “The Father, Son and the Holy Ghost” three-CD set “on hold for right now” but is working on a new project with Davis that Santana say features “no guests, just guitar” — but is still in its formative stages.
He also expects to record another “Supernatural” type of album, but “not for awhile, maybe two years from now.” He’d also like to collaborate in the near future with cellist Yo-Yo Ma, operatic tenor Andrea Bocelli and Afrobeat sire Sola Kuti.
“I’m wide open, man,” Santana says. “At this point my heart is wide open to work with anyone, from Celine Dion to Buddy Guy. I don’t have any fear or reservations. I’m constantly working with music to do the same thing which Bob Marley was doing, which is to bring one love and transforming the illusion of fear, of victims and villains into spiritual victory.”
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