MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIFORNIA - JUNE 26: Drummer Cindy Blackman Santana performs as part of the Santana concert at Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, Calif., on Wednesday, June 26, 2019. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
Cindy Blackman Santana has been paying tribute to late great drummer Tony Williams for years.
She released a full-on homage to the Tony Williams Lifetime jazz-fusion band in 2010 called “Another Lifetime,” which featured guitarists Mike Stern, Fionn O Lochlainn and Vernon Reid, saxophonist Joe Lovano, keyboardists Doug Carn, Patrice Rushen and Carlton Holmes, and bassists Benny Rietveld and David Santos.
Blackman Santana, who’s also an all-world drummer in her own right, followed up in 2011 by joining forces with Reid (from Living Colour), organist John Medeski (from Medeski Martin and Wood) and legendary Cream bassist Jack Bruce in the Spectrum Road project to further explore the music of Williams’ Lifetime group.
Now, Blackman Santana is back at it once again, set to honor the mighty legacy of Williams — a longtime Bay Area resident who died at the age of 51 in 1997 — and his Lifetime band during a concert with Reid, Medeski and special guests on June 14 at the SFJAZZ Center in San Francisco. Showtime is 7:30 p.m. and tickets are $35-$95, sfjazz.org.
Blackman Santana also performs two shows with her band — featuring bassist Felix Pastorius, saxophonist Emilio Modeste and keyboardist Zaccai Curtis — on June 11 at the Blue Note Napa. Showtimes are 4 and 7:30 p.m. and tickets are $35-$65, bluenotenapa.com.
Originally published at Jim Harrington