Santana by Santana

Santana is the debut studio album by American Latin rock band Santana. It was released on August 30, 1969. Over half of the album's length is composed of instrumental music, recorded by what was originally a purely free-form jam band. At the suggestion of manager Bill Graham, the band took to writing more conventional songs for more impact, but managed to retain the essence of improvisation in the music. The album was destined to be a major release, given a boost by the band's performance at the Woodstock Festival earlier that August. The album's first single, "Jingo", was not very successful (only reaching #56); however, "Evil Ways", the second single taken from the album, was a U.S. Top 10 hit (reaching #9). The album peaked at #4 on the Billboard 200 pop album chart and #26 on the UK Albums Chart. It has been mixed and released in both stereo and quadraphonic. The album cover was made by Lee Conklin.