Carlos Santana has begun collecting songs for his next studio album. "I'm going to complete the next Santana album with [BMG chairman/CEO] Mr. Clive Davis," the artist tells Billboard. "Right now we're collecting songs. It's like [the 1999 album] 'Supernatural.' What we did was we crafted songs like glass slippers, and then we find the Cinderellas." As with his past few albums, the songs will precede the collaborations with other artists. "We're in the finding songs part," Santana says. "I'm just supremely grateful [to everyone] from Lauryn Hill to Dave Matthews to Placido Domingo. Most people only work with one level and stay there. Where 'I only do salsa, I only do norteno,' and they stay there. I only play music. Period. And that gives me a different spectrum that others don't enjoy." Asked when this new album will be finished, Santana replies, "When it's done." The set will be the follow-up to 2002's "Shaman," which debuted at No. 1 on The Billboard 200 and has sold 2.3 million copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. As for the all-Spanish-language album Santana was mulling a few years back, the project has been shelved for now. "I would like to work with so many people," he says. "One of my favorite bands is still Molotov. And of course Mana, Los Jaguares. And there are a lot of people [from Latin America] that we don't even know. But it's not in the agenda now. I think I would need to establish a different agenda with Spanish radio, Univision and Telemundo." As previously reported, Santana will be honored as the 2004 Latin Recording Academy Person of the Year via performances by Black Eyed Peas, Matthews, matchbox twenty's Rob Thomas, Robi Draco Rosa and Ozomatli, among others. The tribute will be held Aug. 30 at Los Angeles's Century Plaza Hotel.
