The Swing of Delight is a 1980 double album by Carlos Santana. It was released under his temporary Sanskrit name Devadip Carlos Santana, given to him by Sri Chinmoy. It peaked at #65 on the charts. On the album, Santana is joined by musicians from the Santana band as well as members of Miles Davis' 1960s quintet: saxophonist Wayne Shorter, pianist Herbie Hancock, bassist Ron Carter, and drummer Tony Williams, whom Santana described as "the best musicians on the planet." Santana later recalled that he was "scared to death" in the studio, but stated that playing with such top-notch musicians "will make a guitar player turn down—turn it down and go deep, deep inside himself for the inner stuff." The Swing of Delight was the last album on which Santana used the name Devadip, as he left Chinmoy's circle in 1982 due to his having become disillusioned with the guru.

Reception

In a review for AllMusic, William Ruhlmann called the album "a varied, jazz-oriented session that was one of [Carlos Santana's] more pleasant excursions from the standard Santana sound." Rob Caldwell of All About Jazz stated that the album "hangs together remarkably well and still sounds fresh," and praised the "exemplary accompanying musicians." Writing for Elsewhere, Graham Reid called the recording "One of those albums which was fascinating at the time, disappeared into history and which, when pulled off the shelf again offers some rewarding pieces as much as it frustrates at times."

Track listing

Side one

Side two

Side three

Side four

Personnel

Musicians Production

Charts