SHE'S GOT IT GOIN' ON

DRUMMER CINDY BLACKMAN SANTANA STEPS UP TO THE MICROPHONE ON HER NEW SOLO ALBUM, FEATURING HER FAMOUS HUSBAND AND OTHER BIG-NAME GUITARISTS.

- CHRIS M. JUNIOR

Her last solo album was titled Another Lifetime, and given all that drummer Cindy Blackman Santana has gone through since its release, it sure seems like a lifetime — not a mere decade — has passed.

Over the past 10 years, she continued to broaden her musical horizons and lived through life’s joys (among them her December 2010 marriage to Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Carlos Santana), its disappointments and everyday encounters. And in one way or another, these myriad experiences played a role in the music that appears on her latest solo effort, Give the Drummer Some, which arrived in September.

“I consider myself to be a perpetual student of music and life, so I’m always trying to learn something new and add something different,” says Blackman Santana, who turns 61 this month. “Those elements went into (my new album) as well. And all of the elements you’re living in the moment and you’re experiencing all that’s happening on the planet, those influences naturally come in because you’re being honest.”

‘GENTLY GUIDING THE SITUATION’