Opportunity Village rocks for Santana; UNLV’s top-rated jazz program geared up for Ham Hall gig

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Mark Damon / Las Vegas News Bureau

Carlos Santana visits and makes donations of musical instruments at Opportunity Village on Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2015, in Las Vegas.

Wed, Sep 16, 2015 (1:57 p.m.)

Carlos Santana at Opportunity Village

Carlos Santana visits and makes donations of musical instruments at Opportunity Village on Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2015, in Las Vegas. Alberto Kreimerman, CEO of Hermes Music, is at left.
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The Kats Report Bureau’s audio reception devices — “ears” for short — are buzzing from all of the live music and related noisy experiences in VegasVille.

One of those audibly energetic performances was Tuesday morning at Opportunity Village’s Engelstad Campus. Carlos Santana was involved, but as a spectator, leader of the hashtag-power row for a performance by O.V. citizens.

For details, read on …

• Santana called the experience “better than Woodstock, better than the Grammys.” He was talking of the medley of some of his hits performed by The OVertones, the Opportunity Village music act making its debut as Santana toured the community Tuesday afternoon.

“I keep bragging about the Las Vegas army of weapons of mass compassion, and you are seeing it today.”

Santana was making his first visit to the Engelstad Campus on Buffalo and I-215 and donated 60 Hermes Music instruments to the organization, among them guitars, tambourines and cowbells (which never go out of style).

One of the guitars, signed by Santana, went to Opportunity Village Music Director Darryl Borges, a well-liked and highly regarded musician in the entertainment scene (he’s a member of the Las Vegas tribute band Bee Gees Gold) who also is the director of the OV Elvi and Village Blend acts at Opportunity Village (he suggested the inspired title BonOV for the latest music project but relented, as that title would be too Bon Jovi-esque).

Borges led the band in “Oye Como Va” and “Black Magic Woman,” among others, in a roaring performance that brought Santana to his feet.

“One day, I will be their opening act,” he said afterward, having been welcomed by chants of “San-tana! San-tana!” “Wasn’t that incredible?”

Santana is back at House of Blues this Friday, Saturday and Sunday and again Sept. 23 and 25-27. “Santana IV,” his long-anticipated reunion album of his original band (including guitar great Neal Schon, keyboardist Gregg Rolie, drummer Michael Shrieve and percussionist Michael Carabello)

is now targeted for a spring 2016 release. As is his custom, Santana is using the music stage as a stage to promote philanthropic spirit.

“Music still has power to make change, oh yes,” he says. “You know, I am guided by the spirit of people like John Lennon and Bob Marley. I am them now, and they are with me in my heart and telling me what to say every time I open my mouth.”

In May 2014, Opportunity Village marked its 60th anniversary serving and employing those with intellectual disabilities and their families in Las Vegas. Santana has made similar donations and tours to such Las Vegas organizations as Three Square food bank and Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy. Santana says this is the launching point.

“This is all love,” he says. “Everything else is an illusion.”

• On the topic of love and music, a Las Vegas ensemble that continues to gain worldwide acclaim is the UNLV Latin Jazz Ensemble, which won the Downbeat Magazine Student Music Award for best Latin group, which is akin to winning a Grammy Award for an undergraduate program.

The band is set for its next performance at 2 p.m. Sunday at UNLV’s Ham Hall as a release concert for its latest CD, “Characters.” Tickets are $10; go to PAC.UNLV.edu and call (702) 895-2787 for info.

The Latin Jazz Ensemble has won eight Downbeat Awards in the last five years (seven silver medals and this year’s gold medal), so the recent honor is no fluke.

The band contributed original arrangements in the competition, a rarity, and is under the direction of wickedly gifted keyboardist and instructor Uli Geissendoerfer (a regular performer at Dispensary Lounge on Trop and Eastern whose list of collaborators includes Tito Puente).

The head of UNLV’s Jazz Studies program is the ever-esteemed Dave Loeb, who has performed ample TV work (performing the backing music on “Family Guy,” being one example) and also is the music director of “Steve Wynn’s Showstoppers.”

The UNLV Jazz Studies program has sent a host of musicians to Strip production shows; one of its professors, trombonist Nathan Tanouye, plays and writes for Celine Dion’s orchestra at the Colosseum and also is a longtime member of Santa Fe & The Fat City Horns (as part of Sunday’s program, Loeb and Tanouye will be leading the Jazz Ensemble 1 band.) Several UNLV students have played in “Showstoppers” as part of the university-Strip pipeline.

• More great music opps at ridiculous value: The Ronnie Foster Trio is set for a 2 p.m. Saturday gig at Winchester Cultural Center (3130 McLeod Drive in Las Vegas). Foster is a legend on the organ and today is best known in Las Vegas as the music director of Human Nature at the Venetian.

The other two-thirds of this jazz trifecta are drummer Jess Gropen and guitarist Jake Langley. Tickets for the show are $10 in advance (call 702-455-7340) and on the Winchester Cultural Center Facebook; $12 at the door.

Before playing for the Aussie-Motown act, Foster performed with a list of greats so long he often starts chuckling as he ticks off the names: George Benson, Stevie Wonder, Lionel Richie, Roberta Flack, Michael Jackson, Grant Green, Stanley Turrentine, Chaka Kahn, David Sanborn, Chayanne, Earl Klugh, Herbie Hancock, Stanley Clark, Will Downing, Lee Ritenour, Grover Washington Jr., Harvey Mason … and then the chuckling.

Last year, Foster was reunited with Wonder during the latter’s performance of “Songs in the Key of Life” at MGM Grand Garden Arena. Foster played on “Summer Songs” on that album and again in that concert in November.

Foster’s trio appeared most recently at Dispensary, a dependably groovy little hang for jazz fans, last Friday night. Amazing. The bar was crammed with local music fans and players from all around the city to honor one of the real greats at his craft.

Foster was playing a Hammond B-3 organ that night, evoking the hearty resonance of the instrument’s 1960s and early ’70s heyday, and he made it all sound like brand new.

Follow John Katsilometes on Twitter at Twitter.com/JohnnyKats. Also, follow “Kats With the Dish” at Twitter.com/KatsWiththeDish.

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