open 12 to 7 today ! on this date in 1969 ! Santana is the debut studio alb** by Latin rock band Santana released in 1969. Over half of the alb**'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 alb** was destined to be a major release, given a headstart by the band's seminal performance at the Woodstock Festival earlier that August. Although Jingo was not very successful (only reaching #56), Evil Ways , the second single taken from the alb**, was a U.S. Top 10 hit. The alb** peaked at #4 on the Billboard 200 pop alb** chart and #26 on the UK Alb**s Chart. It has been mixed and released in both stereo and quadraphonic.
