In 1996 Ottmar Liebert toured & played with Carlos Santana. From this heady experience, Ottmar composed the samba Ballad 4 Santana… the mp3 version here is from OL & Luna Negra’s concert in San Antonio, Texas, last fall. Some old timers might recognize that beautiful closing lick — it comes from Gabor Szabo, the Hungarian gypsy jazz guitarist who swapped licks with George Benson… who in turn passed it along to Carlos… who passed it to OL.
Culture Court updated their April features and also added a link to our new ListeningLounge. Thanks!
Szabo, eh?? I never noticed his influence in Ballad 4…which part of the song did you borrow from him? That’s pretty cool :D
None, it’s only the lick we use to end the song, when we perform it live.