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David Brown from the original santana band

M

matito

Sep 25, 2005
370
5
melbourne, australia
#1
I really like this guys playing, he was on the first 3 santana albums i think, and was cool at woodstock.

just i can't find any details or what he did after he left santana, i'd be interested in seeing his other work.

I read somewhere he died a few years ago. thats all i could find on him.

thanks
 
#2
He pops up on some other Santana albums...like Amigo & Live At The Fillmore (pre-Santana, the album).

Check out the Legacy Edition of Santana III...Disc 2 is Live stuff.
More Brown on DVD can be seen on Soul To Soul...the Santana III-era band playing in West Africa.
Voices Of Lating Rock written by Jim McCarthy has some info on Santana; it appears Brown had demoins/drug problems during/after his time with Santana. DEitto for Brown's replacement, Dougie Rauch.

The other day, the local Classic Rock station was playing "Black Magic Woman"...for the gear-obsessed-
The bass tone is thick, phat & sits so right in the mix...all done on a stock P-bass. Sorry, I always argue with some friends that are seemingly always chasing the latest technology. I usually tell them their efforts/resources would be better spent elsewhere. I mean, really, what's wrong with Brown's tone on those early records?
;)
 
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#5
Check out "Let Me", the third track from "Amigos". Maybe not an outstanding song as a whole, but its cool lead bass groove (played by Mr. Brown, of course) is the main reason why this is one of my all-time favorite Santana tunes. I played it along with the LP many times, many years ago.
 
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#6
matito said:
I read somewhere he died a few years ago. thats all i could find on him.

thanks
Click to expand...

Not so much about him on Wikipedia:

David Brown played with Carlos Santana at Woodstock in 1969. He played with the guitarist on several other dates and albums. He was the bassist from 1966-1976. He died in 2000 of liver and kidney failure.
Click to expand...
 
#12
JimK said:
The other day, the local Classic Rock station was playing "Black Magic Woman"...for the gear-obsessed-
The bass tone is thick, phat & sits so right in the mix...all done on a stock P-bass. Sorry, I always argue with some friends that are seemingly always chasing the latest technology. I usually tell them their efforts/resources would be better spent elsewhere. I mean, really, what's wrong with Brown's tone on those early records?
;)
Click to expand...

I'm with you.:hyper:
I still play his intro to "Soul Sacrifice" when I'm noodling around. The Woodstock version is IT for me, when it comes to that kind of tone. As you say, stock Precision (sunburst w/rosewood fingerboard... there's a Woodstock picture of him from the back, where you can see the strap button on the back on the headstock... pre-CBS, right?)... flatwound strings, 'natch.
 
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#14
Mojo-Man said:
Just got Welcome-CD. 1973.
Killer finger funk.
This was three years before Jaco, hit big.
Doug blows me away.
Click to expand...

I saw him live with Santana in '73. I was watching him, but didn't have a clue how he was doing what he was doing.

There's a track on Caravanserai -all the Love In The Universe- that is unfrigginbelievable...he's got like 3 different things going on at the same time. Check it out. :bassist:
 
#15
nysbob said:
I saw him live with Santana in '73. I was watching him, but didn't have a clue how he was doing what he was doing.

There's a track on Caravanserai -all the Love In The Universe- that is unfrigginbelievable...he's got like 3 different things going on at the same time. Check it out. :bassist:
Click to expand...
:cool:
I seen him with Carlos and John Mclsughlin tour.
LOVE DEVOTION SURRENDER
Maybe 1972-1973.
Carlos
John
Doug
Larry Young-organ
Billy Cobham-Drums.
Unkown conga player.
Dough used a black jazz bass, and a sunburst P-bass.
Way ahead of his time.
 
#16
The unknown conga player on that Santana&McLaughlin tour was Armando Peraza.
Doug played a lot with his thumb, all those fast 16th note patterns were him double thumbing. I recall someone writing that when he played with Cobham in '75 he played everything using just his thumb.

Here's Doug with his Jazz Bass:
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
 
#17
Mojo-Man said:
Just got Welcome-CD. 1973.
Killer finger funk.
This was three years before Jaco, hit big.
Doug blows me away.
Click to expand...

On the re-release of Welcome there is a bonus track called Mantra with some stunning work by Rauch! NYSBob is right, Doug is one of electric bass historys great lost treasures!
 
#18
PhR said:
The unknown conga player on that Santana&McLaughlin tour was Armando Peraza.
Doug played a lot with his thumb, all those fast 16th note patterns were him double thumbing. I recall someone writing that when he played with Cobham in '75 he played everything using just his thumb.

Here's Doug with his Jazz Bass:
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Click to expand...
:cool:
Great Pic.
 
#20
jerry said:
On the re-release of Welcome there is a bonus track called Mantra with some stunning work by Rauch! NYSBob is right, Doug is one of electric bass historys great lost treasures!
Click to expand...

I was hoping for more bonus tracks on these releases but "Mantra" is better than nothing. The new remaster of "Welcome" credits also David Brown playing bass but that is incorrect. The original vinyl credits say that Carlos plays bass in "Mother Africa", all other tracks are by Rauch.

"Santana III" was quite recently reissued as a double cd and it has a great Fillmore West concert from July 4, 1971. Excellent playing from the original Santana band (plus Coke Escovedo on percussion) including David Brown.

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

Here's the Doug Rauch thread:
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=240134&highlight=rauch
 
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