Borboletta

Performer: Santana
Engineer: Glen Kolotkin
Producer: Santana
Distributor: Sony Music Distribution (

Notes: Santana: Carlos Santana (guitar, percussion); Tom Coster (piano, keyboards); Michael Shrieve (drums). Additional personnel: Leon Patillo (vocals, piano); Flora Purim (vocals); Jules Broussard (soprano & tenor saxophones); Armando Peraja (soprano saxophone, congas); David Brown, Stanley Clarke (bass); Leon Chancler (drums); Jose Areas (congas); Airto Moreira (percussion). Although it isn't a concept album in the conventional sense, BORBOLETTA has the aesthetic and thematic continuity of one. The lyrical material deals with pop-sheened themes of spiritual and personal expansion, while the album's gorgeous jazz-spirited instrumentals make for more cerebral and challenging listening. The band seals a Brazilian fusion connection with the appearance of vocalist Flora Purim and rhythmist extraordinaire Airto Moreira, while soulman Leon Patillo and keyboardist Tom Coster make their first major appearances in the core Santana lineup. "Spring Manifestations" opens the album like a meditation in the jungle, with Flora and Airto conjuring up an atmospheric wilderness of sound effects. Elsewhere, the distinct soft groove of the '70s tempers the band's harder crunch of the '60s as the percussion section tames its spikes and the gentle strains of Fender-Rhodes piano dance alongside the sinewy grit of Hammond organ. "One With the Sun" features an urgent-sounding Patillo making declarations of solar harmony at the mic and Carlos shredding through a series of breathtaking guitar solos. His playing shows signs of blooming into greater subtlety and harmonic sophistication on cuts like "Flor de Canela" and "Promise of a Fisherman" with lightning-fast modal-rock runs.

Q (4/97, p.150) - 4 Stars (out of 5) - "...what a scorcher Borboletta is....more space for Santana to strut his stuff....achieving white heat on the penultimate track..."

Carlos Santana is one of those rare guitarists whose sound is instantly recognizable. His fiery, soulful blend of rock, blues, and Latin music made his band, also named Santana, an international success. From 1960s San Francisco psychedelia to '70s fusion to enormously successful pop crossovers in the early 2000s, Carlos Santana has remained a respected and influential force in music. Though he scored hits with his band from the late '60s to the early '80s, Santana operated under the mainstream radar for much of the '80s and '90s until the multi-platinum 1999 "comeback" album, SUPERNATURAL, studded with pop-star collaborations, brought him (and the band) a whole new audience.

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