Cindy Blackman Santana- "Give the drummer some"

 

The woman behind Lenny Kravitz drum set and Santana drum kit and by the way wife of Carlos Santana give us a new work less fusion and more song oriented. By her side she has the faithful husband Karlos and also some guys like Jon McLaughlin, Kirk Hammet, Vernon Reid to produce a hell of an album. From the opener , a cover version of “Imagine” to the more melodic “You don't wanna break my heart” Cindy Blackman offers us her musical vision. But on the contrary to her husband's works she prefers some more jazz/ fusion oriented patterns as we listen at."We came to play" with John McLaughlin where improvisation and musicality burst out along with creativity, exploiting hers and her guests' talents to maximum. She handles all vocals with ease but her social/ political awareness is equally strong to her musical talents as we can listen to "Social justice" with her husband's participation and "Evolution,revolution" with the participation of Hammet/Reid. A strong album balanced between musical indulgence and good taste, old fashion songwriting, is an unexpected surprise that will please fans of fusion and rock.

7,5