Carlos Santana brings his band to Hawaii for shows on Oahu and Maui

Fans of Carlos Santana who went to his last performance here in 2013 will be hearing a lot of fresh material this time around.

Since then, the Latin rock master released his 23rd album “Corazon” in 2013, and more recently joined members of the original band to produce “Santana IV,” which will be out in April. Tunes from those albums and others are all on the play list for the concerts in Honolulu and on March 5 on Maui, performed by Santana’s current band.

Santana himself feels re-energized by the recent recording session, saying it rekindled the “oneness” among the core members of the group that made their performances more than the sum of their individual talents.

Neal Schon, a guitarist of that original lineup, made the suggestion in 2013 and Santana was all for it. From there the project grew into a brief reunion tour for the band.

“I give all the credit to Neal Schon. He was the motivator and the starter,” Santana explained recently in a phone interview.

Once that commitment was made, it was a matter of clearing schedules and completing pending projects. “If you want to (do it), then you tell whoever to do whatever has to be done. This thing that’s happening again is a Niagara Falls flood thing; it’s not twinkle-twinkle. This is the real ocean again.”

Santana and Schon were joined by Michael Carabello (congas), Gregg Rolie (keyboards, lead vocals) and Michael Shrieve (drums) in the studio for the first time since they recorded the group’s third album, commonly called “Santana III,” in 1971. That made the name of the album they were working on a no-brainer: “Santana IV.” A preview of the album’s first single, “Anywhere You Want to Go,” was released earlier this month.

“As soon as I’m in the room with Gregg Rolie, Michael Carabello, Michael Shrieve and Neal Schon, stuff happens,” Santana said, recalling those recording sessions. “All of our souls become one sound, and that sound, for some reason, was immediately accepted from Woodstock (in 1969) to Honolulu to Japan to anywhere. It’s like we became part of a global family with Bob Marley and Michael Jackson.”

“I don’t squirm when I say it,” he continued. “We were at that level of collective commonality oneness, and when I hear the music (of “Santana IV”), it truly is where we left off with energy. It’s the energy and passion.”

At present Santana has three concert dates set with the “Santana IV” lineup. He’s going to see how it goes and possibly extend the tour.

For the concerts here in Hawaii, he is playing with his current band, which includes his wife, Cindy Blackman Santana; vocalist Ray Greene, whom they just acquired from Tower of Power earlier this month; and expatriate local boy Benny Rietveld.

Rietveld is the group’s bassist and musical director — he is also one of the two musicians from the current Santana band that Santana brought in to work on “Santana IV.” Santana describes him as the band’s “gatekeeper.”

“I say it with so much humility and pride that Benny is the musical director in our band. His role is incredible. He’s the gatekeeper of integrity — genuine, honest, sincere, truthful, real and authentic. He’s the gatekeeper of that. My role now is just to close my eyes and just deliver.”

The performance will be Honolulu’s first opportunity to hear Greene as a member of the group, but otherwise expect a classic sound.

“We cover yesterday, today and tomorrow, and definitely songs that we did with ‘Santana IV.’ The main thing that people, beyond the songs, you can expect the Holy Ghost to show up and give you chills. If we were chefs we’d make sure the grill is hot and clean — and delicious.”

With 10 Grammy Awards, three Latin Grammy Awards and sales of more than 100 million records since his first album, “Santana,” was released in 1969, Santana is continuing to move forward.

“I just feel really grateful and really happy overall because we are still relevant. I don’t call what we do ‘old school.’ I call it ‘Kick your ass then, now and tomorrow.’ I don’t know any ‘old school’ or anything like that. I only know (the) energy of when we come in, we’re gonna get it done, with joy. There’s going to be energy. It’s not nostalgia cute.”

Going almost all the way to the beginning, Santana’s Latin-rock remake of “Oye Como Va” introduced many young Americans to the music of Tito Puente, just as the bands of the British Invasion introduced classic rock ‘n’ roll and rhythm & blues to a generation of teenagers too young to remember the original hit-makers of the 1950s.

Santana said politely but firmly that he has reservations about the English artists’ remakes of American rock ‘n’ roll, rhythm & blues and classic blues songs.

“I don’t necessarily approve of British invading me with my own music and not playing it as good as we do. The Beatles never sung ‘Twist and Shout’ better than the Isley Brothers; the Rolling Stones never did blues songs better than the Chicago people. And that goes with Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page and everybody. I love what they did with it, but it’s not better than Muddy Waters or Howlin’ Wolf. So don’t come and invade me with my own stuff and not as good.”

Santana colleague has his mind blown

Benny Rietveld remembers watching Santana in concert when he was just another teenager who dreamed of being a professional musician. Working with Carlos Santana for the past 19 years is the job of a lifetime. Being invited to be part of the “Santana IV” project was several steps above awesome.

“It’s kind of mind-boggling, completely surrealistic,” Rietveld said in a phone call from his home in Los Angeles. Though the band is playing Honolulu on Thursday and Maui on March 5, he’s staying over for a couple of extra days for a couple of club gigs (“I gotta soak up some of the islands,” he said).

“I grew up listening to their music, like really immersing myself in it, and then suddenly I’m there. I felt pretty blessed at that point. It was magical.”

What surprised Rietveld most was how the other old-time members welcomed him and percussionist Karl Perazzo into the creative circle.

“They were incredibly generous in including me and Karl as part of them and not just ‘OK, you guys on the side.’ Their approach was just ‘Let’s just make some music together.’ That’s what they’ve always been about — ‘Let’s jam, let’s see what happens’ — and Carlos is so amazing at directing that energy.