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I guess I just wondered to what extent MG was dismissing the idea that Santana could have been (meaningfully) influenced by Coltrane. I think that he and I differ greatly on that. As I said, I see and understand the distinction between that scenario and first-person absorption (and appreciate the importance of the latter). When I asked MG is he was (ever) a musician, that was a sincere question, by the way. Seemed relevant to me. I don't do as much book reading as he does, so we're definitely different in more ways than one in terms of how we form opinions.
I really brought up the whole Santana-influenced-by-Trane thing just to challenge the rather narrow-minded (not to mention unfair) notion that Carlos is to be considered and labeled as yet another "rock" guitarist who plays "rock" guitar, and therefore ought to be kept on that "rock" shelf and not considered for more interesting recipes besides "rock" soup (sheesh, I must be getting hungry again).