Throughout an almost four-decade aberrant and wandering career laden with personnel changes, Carlos Santana has maintained amazing popularity, even though his innovative fusion of rock, fiery and spirited Afro-poly rhythms, and cool, low-key vocals has had only one Top 40 hit during his tenure.

      Santana led his band onto the massive stage to thunderous approval and a standing ovation, while acknowledging his fans’ praise with clasped prayer-like hands and humbly bowed head. His appeal for feeding the music scene’s appetite for long and involved open-air jams with an athletic mixture of blazing guitar riffs and frenetic percussion was evident early on in his performance. The entire multi-piece unit achieves a remarkable instinctive symbiosis, as they seem to fuel each other to separate levels of nirvana. "Maria, Maria" was well received, as was "Corazon Espinado (Broken Heart)," which contained cleverly placed stanzas of the Rolling Stones’ "Paint It Black." Up next was "No Tengua Nadie" or "I Ain’t Got Nobody." The 1970s staple segued into the familiar chords of the Peter Green (Fleetwood Mac) classic made famous by Santana on the Abraxas CD, "Black Magic Woman." With most fans standing at this point, what could possibly follow? How about the boys kicking into hyper-drive with an interpretation of Tito Puentes’ "Oye Como Va." It wound up being a dynamic audience participation that contained portions of Hendrix’ "Third Stone From The Sun" and "Never Go Back To Georgia."

      Santana’s trademark deep knee bends were minimal and missed this night, but his wonderfully contorted facial expressions were full tilt, which helped add surreal flights into the mystic. He addressed his audience by thanking them for their support and gave back to them by introducing Rob Thomas of Matchbox 20, singer and composer of Santana’s only Top 40 hit, "Smooth." The Jones Beach audience went absolutely wild. Leaving the stage with fans’ mouths agape, Santana and band returned with the lone encore, "Yaleo (Da Le)."

      Carlos Santana can flex his custom Paul Reed Smith guitar in a number of settings. His guitar characteristics of improvisation, purity and sweetness of tone are incomparable, as is his ability to sustain feedback so elegantly and so Santana. His intense clarity and long fluid lines resemble a violinist’s, and his heady mix of jazz, rock and Latin devices is undeniably beautiful and awe-inspiring.

      Opening the evening’s festivities was Santana’s son and the Salvatore Santana Band. To be quite frank, I didn’t expect too much because of self-biases surrounding parental clout on influences for mediocre talents of children of famous actors and musicians. This rap/rock/pop/funk-influenced group held their own, with frontman Salvatore providing top-shelf vocals and musicianship. The focus of original songs of this mix seemed to center on love and love lost scenarios and were sparkling musical gems.

      Following the Salvatore Santana Band was Los Lonely Boys, from San Angelo, Texas. Riding on the heels of their second, long-awaited CD, Sacred, their original brand of electric blues, East Texas roots, and good old hard-drivin’ rock and roll took hold with the hard-to-please and discriminate New York crowd. If Los Lonely Boys sound as if they’ve been playing all their lives together, it’s because they have. The three "Boys" are in fact true brothers. Henry, JoJo and Ringo Garza handle lead guitar, bass and drums, respectively, with all contributing their own passionate vocals to the mix. Some songs were no doubt Stevie Ray Vaughan-influenced, while their self-penned "Long And Sweet" focused on the impact that a woman’s passionate kiss can truly have on the man she’s in love with. Their monster hit, "Heaven," was all killer, no filler, and contained perfectly executed multiple tempo changes and evidenced why the boys won a 2005 Grammy for Best Pop Vocal – Duo/Group.

      This small slice of time was, no doubt, a magical night. It was a perfect evening of music, atmosphere and gratitude for the things in life that make life worth living and sharing with people who matter in your life.

     Ian Anderson Featuring Ann Marie Calhoun
     North Fork Theater 10/06

      For those unaware, Ian Anderson is the driving and energetic founder/frontman of one of the most commercially successful, eccentric and eclectic progressive rock bands in history, Jethro Tull. Anderson presented his original brand of music without his usual backup band of musicians that comprised Tull in the past. Backed by a 20-piece symphony orchestra and featuring violinist Ann Marie Calhoun, he offered up a very different interpretation of his unique body of work.

      Anderson looks quite unlike he did back in the late 1960s. His mad Fagan-esque character with long shaggy mane, full beard and penchant for traditional tartan-plaid attire has been swapped for a basic black outfit and closely cropped hair with bandanna. A few things remained constant with this clever English raconteur: his ongoing discussions with his audience and his highly emotive stage antics of playing flute while hopping up and down on one leg.

      The Tull classics represented this evening took on a whole new feel with the classical accompaniment of strings and woodwind instruments. The fullness of "Life Is a Long Song" was staggeringly beautiful as he dedicated it to souls too soon gone. Up next was a tune from his Stand Up CD, probably one of his best contributions to rock, the lovely and delightful "Bouree," which was based on a Bach classic. Accented, of course, was Anderson’s trademark flute-flutter-tonguing and singing through his instrument, which he acquired from his mentor, Rahsaan Roland Kirk. With cross-legged stance, his eccentricities are full of a whole gallery of postures and poses. He blows flute as ferociously as others play guitar, as evidenced on "Cheap Day Return" segued into "Mother Goose." A highlight of the performance was the band’s interpretation of "America" from West Side Story, which contained snippets of other famous classic pieces, including "Take Me Out to the Ballgame," "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" and "Over the Rainbow."

      Anderson began his heavy-handed anti-church yet pro-God manifesto, "Aqualung," with smooth and subtle grace. The composition contained multiple tempo changes and various crescendos that made it an auditory delight, with the addition of string accompaniments that included the genius of Ann Marie Calhoun. A jazzy rendition of the classic holiday tune "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" was well received, as was an extended version of the ominous, foreboding, yet emotionally evocative "Budapest." Anderson’s lone encore was, of course, "Locomotive Breath," rock’s essential workhorse presented with a touch of bluegrass thrown in. Anderson and Calhoun were perfectly playing off each other and pushing and nudging the other to various levels of musical nirvana.

      Ian Anderson’s music is an exciting and interesting hybrid of jazz, blues, Elizabethan folk and classic opera. His presentation this night made it even more unique. He has, without a doubt, carved an honorable niche in the rock pantheon of idiosyncratic practitioners of a very British kind of rock. The strength, force and might of this performance did not lie in the intense sound of a Tull remnant, but in the clever artistic arrangements of Anderson's masterpieces in conjunction with each musician’s heartfelt love of music.