American rock and jazz drummer Cynthia R. Blackman, better known as Cindy Blackman Santana, is well-known for her albums “Works on Canvas” and “Another Lifetime.” She is regarded as one of the top jazz percussionists who is female, a rare breed in the field. She was born in Ohio, although she lived her later years in Connecticut, where she went to the Hartt School of Music and then studied composition with Alan Dawson at Boston’s Berklee College of Music. From the 1980s, when she started her career as a street musician in New York, till the present, Blackman has been making amazing music. In the late 1980s, she began her drumming career in recordings. In addition to releasing highly regarded albums like “Another Lifetime” (2010), she has collaborated on tours and recordings with a variety of musicians, including Don Pullen, Hugh Masakela, Angela Bofill, Pharoah Sanders, Bill Laswell, and Cassandra Wilson. She spent several years as Lenny Kravitz’s band’s tour drummer. She performed in the all-star “Bits Brew” event at the 2010 New York City Winter Jazz Fest and the San Francisco Jazz Festival. In 2010, Blackman wed the well-known guitarist Carlos Santana.
Early Life & Childhood
On November 18, 1959, Blackman was born in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Later in life, she lived in Bristol, Connecticut. Her mother, grandmother, and uncle were all classical musicians, so she grew up surrounded by music. Her uncle also played the vibraphone. Her grandmother was a classical pianist, and when she was younger, her mother performed in orchestras on the violin. Cindy’s mother used to take her to classical music concerts.
She was drawn to drums at a young age and, when she was three, asked her mother for some. She began playing the drums at a friend’s party when she was 7 years old. At the age of 13, Blackman received her first professional set.
When she was eleven years old, her family moved to Bristol, Connecticut, and during her high school years, she participated in jazz band, concert band, and orchestra. She studied at Hartford, Connecticut’s “Hartt School of Music.”
She learned the “drum rudiments” at the age of twelve by taking part in a local drum corps. She also learned how to move her hands in regulated ways, which was challenging for a 12-year-old.
Blackman became interested in jazz after hearing Max Roach perform. She really benefited from attending renowned drummer Tony William’s clinic at Bob Gatzen’s neighborhood drum shop, “Creative Music.”
She enrolled at Boston’s “Berklee College of Music,” where she was taught by Alan Dawson, Tony William’s previous instructor. After three semesters, she dropped out of school and moved to New York City in 1982 to work as a street performer. She first encountered opposition from both gender and racial prejudice, but her talent helped her overcome all of this. She saw several famous drummers perform in New York, including Art Blakey, Roy Haynes, Ed Blackwell, Billy Higgins, and Louis Hayes.
Career of Cindy Blackman Santana
Ted Curson’s “Jazz Stars for the Future” program on New York’s “King’s Crown Radio” (WKCR – FM) included Blackman in 1984. Her songs were featured on Wallace Roney’s 1987 CD “Verses.” Upon hearing these tunes, she received an offer for a recording contract from “Muse Records.” Her first song as the band’s leader, “Arcane,” was published in 1988.
After seeing her play, Lenny Kravitz invited her to Los Angeles in 1993. She and thirty other people showed up for tryouts, and she was chosen. Together, they recorded his song “Are You Gonna Go My Way.” Although Kravitz typically played his own drums when producing an album, Blackman remained to play mostly as his touring drummer.
She ceased performing with Kravitz’s group in 2004 because she wanted to focus on her own songs. She came back to perform in 2014 during Kravitz’s promotional tours in support of his tenth studio album, “Strut.”
She recorded her debut track with a working group for the 1994 album “Telepathy.” In 1998, “Warner Brothers” publications released “Multiplicity,” Blackman’s debut drumming instructional film. In 2005, she released the CD “Music for the New Millennium” on her own label, Sacred Sound Label.
Nine studio albums, including “Arcane” (1988), “Code Red” (1990), “Telepathy” (1992), “The Oracle” (1995), “In the Now” (1998), “Works on Canvas” (1999), “Someday” (2001), “Music for the New Millennium” (2005), and “Another Lifetime” (2010), have been released by Blackman as the band’s leader. She has contributed to several other albums, such as “Organ Monk” (2012), “Spectrum Road” (2012), and “Power of Peace” (2017).
Her well-known 2010 CD “Another Lifetime” pays homage to the late great drummer Tony Williams, who served as her inspiration and mentor. Three of Blackman’s original compositions and eight songs from Williams’ 1970s band “Lifetime” are included.
Blackman likes to perform jazz in intimate settings. She gives drum clinics and gives tours. In September 2007, she conducted clinics in Chile, Brazil, and Argentina while traveling throughout South America. On November 30, 2007, she gave a quartet performance at the Philadelphia Art Museum’s “Art After 5.” She was Carlos Santana and John McLaughlin’s drummer for their combined performance at the “2011 Montreux Festival,” in Switzerland.
Individual Life of Cindy Blackman Santana
Blackman dated Carlos Santana for a while while he was the drummer for several of the well-known Mexican-American musician’s concerts. On July 9, 2010, Blackman’s drum solo during a concert at Tinley Park, Illinois, inspired Santana to pop the question. In Maui, Hawaii, on December 19, 2010, the couple tied the knot. Blackman resides in New York’s Brooklyn.
Net worth of Cindy Blackman Santana
The estimated net worth of Cindy Blackman Santana is about $1 million.