Committed to following his muse wherever it would take him, Carlos readily assented to Columbia Records' Clive Davis suggestion that he record with John McLaughlin. At the time Carlos was a dedicated fan of McLaughlin's Mahavishnu Orchestra, taking almost every opportunity to catch the band in concert, and it was clear that both he and drummer Michael Shrieve were moving in a musical direction that at least paralleled that of this band.

By this time, the transformation of Santana had been completed with the departure of organist/vocalist Greg Rolie, and guitarist Neil Schon. The new lineup now included dual keyboardists Tom Coster and Richard Kermode along with bassist Doug Rauch and the already legendary percussionist Armando Peraza teaming up with timbalero Jose"Chepito" Areas. With both Carlos and Michael Shrieve now dead set on a musical path which fully portrayed their respect for the music of Miles Davis and John Coltrane and which reflected their interest in the exciting things happening in some of the leading fusion bands of that time, there was little question that virtually any Santana projects of that time could well have been prefaced with a Further Explorations Of tag.

For this special project, Carlos and John agreed on a special personnel blend that would be part Santana and part Mahavishnu Orch with organist Khalid Yasin (Larry Young) from the Tony Williams Lifetime brought in as a kind of marvelous wild card. It is safe to say today some thirty years afterwards that this epic continues to resonate with the conviction, sense of adventure, and absolute musical abandon which characterized not only the twin spirits of Carlos Santana and John McLaughlin at that time but also, in an even larger sense, the spirit and daring of an era marked by the experimentation and relentless searching which occurred in the wake of musical pioneer and visionary John Coltrane's death in 1967.

Notwithstanding the reverence and esteem in which John Coltrane was held by his fellow jazz musicians, almost none dared to express this respect by performing his A Love Supreme. Perhaps it was simply too daunting a challenge, one which could hardly survive comparison to the original. It remained for Carlos Santana and John McLaughlin to perform

Acknowledgement from his A Love Supreme Suite in tribute to this creative giant in this their own musical language fully assisted by fellow musical explorers for whom risk taking and relentless invention had by then become the norm.

Interestingly, Michael Shrieve recently commented about his own initial reluctance to tackle this John Coltrane composition:" I actually felt kind of funny about playing this music. I remember telling John McLaughlin that 'I'm not worthy to play this' and John replied 'Well, if you're not worthy, who is?'"

Very much in the emotional mix of this recording is the ongoing spiritual transformation characterizing the lives of both Carlos Santana and John McLaughlin and their commitment to the spiritual path of guru Sri Chinmoy at that time. With the trademark drum sound of the redoubtable Billy Cobham in the forefront, McLaughlin's A Love Divine superbly conveys this element in a track, which simply put has no peer. Seemingly combining the best of Mahavishnu, Santana, and Lifetime all in one package, A Love Divine remains one of those must have performances from an age gone by.

For all the challenge faced by the participants of Love, Devotion, & Surrender, no one had a more formidable task than conguero Armando Peraza who had to essentially invent a role for congas in the absence of any recorded model for the use of Latin percussion in this new music. As can be heard throughout, Peraza is the supreme complement to this music, playing with a strength and fire which even three decades later is still warm to the touch.

For all the considerable excellence in his past Santana recordings, drummer extraordinaire Michael Shrieve continues here- most especially on A Love Supreme -to demonstrate that he was virtually born to operate in this free-wheeling atmospheric environment, combining chops, taste, and daring like no other and further enhancing his deserved status as one of the finest drummers of any era.

Finding a bassist who could provide the drive and excitement of rock with the finesse of jazz while being partnered with fiery and unrelenting percussion was no easy task but clearly Doug Rauch had more than filled this bill in his work on Caravanserai, so his stellar performance here comes as no surprise. Commenting recently about Rauch, Michael Shrieve said," Dougie was way ahead of his time and all the other top bassists were always checking him out. He added so much to our band."

Doug Rauch: What a magnificent musician, one lost to us all too soon.

It is hardly over-statement to aver that we have not heard the likes of organist Larry Young before or since his premature death just five years after this recording. It is altogether fitting that this iconoclastic keyboard pioneer plays such an indispensable role in Love, Devotion, & Surrender, a recording which has so easily and indisputably stood the test of time.

With added percussion provided by Jan Hammer and the ever-resourceful Don Alias, it remained for Carlos and John to bring to fruition the dream and the magic of this music. For Carlos, just the idea of playing alongside the superbly gifted McLaughlin, who had by then already recorded and toured with Miles Davis, had to have been intimidating. There have been few musicians in modern music who have acquired the instrumental mastery we associate with John McLaughlin.

Carlos came to realize, however, that his melodic gift did not require as many notes as John but could still be every bit as effective. He learned, as Armando used to encourage, to "get inside each note", to make his statement.

As is so readily apparent, the juxtaposition of these two guitar masters -each speaking in his own language, each with his own brand of eloquence - is a bountiful feast for the listener. Whether paying subdued acoustic homage on Coltrane's Naima or John's Meditation or going all out in a controlled frenzy on the Pharoah Sanders-inspired rendition of the spiritual Let Us Go Into The House of the Lord, there is an inescapable feeling of joy and sheer delight from this inspired pairing of two marvelous griots.

And on the horizon loomed one more meeting of Carlos Santana and John McLaughlin on Santana's next release, Welcome, just a few months later. Viewed in retrospect, Love, Devotion, & Surrender should be regarded as the second in a stunning series of five albums beginning with Caravanserai and culminating with Illuminations which virtually redefined Carlos Santana even as it took its rightful place as one of the most essential recordings of its time.