Cindy Blackman Santana

I was recently reading about Cindy Blackman Santana's latest album release "Give the Drummer Some!" in the pages of Jazz Times magazine this month. It seems like every November they like to feature drummers in particular and I think this is just fantastic (in fact, it's one of the very few magazines in print that I actually buy anymore. I can't even find a place to purchase a physical copy of Modern Drummer these days!)

Anyways, it was a great feature, I really look forward to hearing her new music and this also prompted me to dig around a bit and see what she's been up to these days.

The first time I heard Cindy play was actually in a short segment from a documentary about Art Blakey in which she was playing drums, subbing for Bu, in a rehearsal with the Jazz Messengers. While it was brief, it was swinging! Fast forward to the mid-90's when I first heard her band play at the Salle de Gesu in Montreal and I was completely blown away and unprepared for the power and energy that she played with. I've been a fan ever since!

Here's a few pieces featuring this wonderful musician:

- A recent interview and feature from PBS NewsHour:

- A solo feature from the 2020 DRUMEO Festival:

- And finally, I've really been digging this ongoing series of videos from the Drum Compilations YouTube channel (and will likely share more of these featuring other drummers in the future!) Here's Cindy's latest compilation: