Sorry Guys, Cindy is taken...

Agree. There's a fabulous Hilary clip on the Tube ... her feel is as good as it gets (which is probably Carlos's line to Cindy ho ho) - inspiring.

Will check out Silvia C's playing. Ta.

caddywumpus said:

Good. Maybe she'll stop calling me 20 times a day now...

Click to expand...

God...i love this conversation.

2 cents: i was in high school when songs like samba pa ti came out, so my first impressions of Santana(mostly "enhanced"), were nothing short of euphoric. particularly from a drummer/percussionist point of view, it truly was nothing short of having died and gone to heaven!! when i was in ninth grade, my band opened up for the woodstock movie in my city, so Suffice it to Say, Santana's status to me is right up there with mom and apple pie.

in the same breath, as a musician much further along and all in perspective, i totally agree with the trend here...he figured out something that works and he's working it....since he's a god, i can't bash him too hard, but i'm not gonna wait for him to start practicing any time soon. (just think how good he'd be?!)

i love "smooth" with rob thomas! totally reminiscent of his OG status, tho i missed his percussers! tho when they do "smooth" in concert, i'm sorry, but it sounds like karaoke, not to be too hard on em, but no one other than thomas should even think about singing that song....(jmo).

as for the bride, man, i watched the vid and halfway thru, went to get a coffee thinking i'd just run it back, came back, and she's still going, like oh my god!! i think i love her.

nhzoso, if Justin Beiber decided he wanted to play rock and started sitting in with ACDC, Kiss, Metallica etc, singing in his trademark style, would you say he was a real rocker?

If not, would you consider yourself a rock snob?

PS. Aeolian, I just listened to a couple of Sylvia clips - yet another quality player http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96wLFQnoYH4

I knew about this long before the story broke. Dennis is a friend of mine but actually Johnathan Moffet told me about it. Let me tell you something guys, that's about the only way Dennis loses work. It's not like she can touch him on the drums. I'm sure someone has already snatched Dennis. He is in a class all by himself. Crappy way to lose a gig you really like though.

Dennis was there for the cred too. Just like when Herbie sat in. There's nothing going on that Billy Johnson can't do. He just doesn't have the name. FWIW, Billy can do much more than he does on that gig as well. I've heard stories that Dennis and the boys would amuse themselves at soundchecks doing RTF stuff when Carlos wasn't around. All the guys he's hired are on a whole 'nother level. It's like Faith Hill hiring Vinnie. You get the best musicians you can. Even if they're all over your head.

Everybody's taken gigs with folks they wouldn't have hired on their own because those folks had the gig. It's called being a professional musician. And there's a difference between being a killer sideman, and selling yourself to the public. Some folks just know how to market themselves and get the gigs. Musical ability is secondary to that. If Carlos had to go to LA and compete with Michael Landau, Larry Carlton, Lyle Workman, Drew Zing and the like for sessions or sideman gigs, you'd probably have never heard of him. But together with Greg Rollie, Michael Shrieve and some folks, they put together something that spoke to people without requiring Dennis Chambers type of musicianship. Fostering that legacy allows him to have the plum gig that Dennis and the others will lock out for.

I suspect that we'll still see Dennis, Billy and others on various tours. Cindy has her own bag. Initially it will be something to see. The serious cred drummer playing with the pop band. Or for the non-musos, the hot lady drummer playing with the pop icon.

First time I saw Cindy B was when she was pumping out simple, clean rock beats for Lenny Kravitz. I was surprised when I first heard about her jazz playing and Tony Williams thing because it's so different to what she was playing with Lenny.

Sure, there's exposure and $$ to be had but there's a ton of great musos whose writing is dead boring and some lesser musos who write much better or at least can put together bands with a great vibe, eg. John Mayall, Alexis Korner. I'd be surprised if Cindy didn't greatly enjoy playing with Santana and his band, discounting their relationship. There are worse things in life than backing a guitarist with a sweet, distinctive tone and who loves jamming out and going off the hook.

Yes, he's more limited than many players and relies on the same devices but he's not Robinson Crusoe there.