We should all be as happy as Carlos Santana.

When asked how he’s doing, his reply is, “Thank you for asking me. I’m grateful and happy. How are you?” You can hear the smile in the way he speaks.

To answer his inquiry, I’m awed. I’ve just called one of the greatest guitar players in living history. Santana has sold more than 100 million albums since his band’s legendary 1969 performance at Woodstock. He has won 10 Grammy Awards, including nine for a single project, 1999’s “Supernatural,” as well as three Latin Grammys. In 1998, Santana was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and his band is one of only two music acts in Billboard history to score at least one Top Ten album for six consecutive decades from the 1960s on.

“I am so grateful to be on the road with Earth, Wind and Fire (who will not perform in Rogers). We also have a legion of angels around because they know that our hearts are set to elevate, transform, and illlumen listeners into a place where people can accept their own divinity. And that’s everything. … We are assigned and designed to bring hope and encourage people,” Santana says.

In addition to touring in support of his most recent album, “Blessings and Miracles” (2021), which features collaborations with Rob Thomas, Chris Stapleton and Steve Winwood — just to name a few — and continuing his residency at the House of Blues Las Vegas, he is also the subject of an upcoming documentary.

“Yeah, can you believe it?” he asks laughing. “I waited all this time for the right people to come. People when they do documentaries, it’s always like, ‘Oh, poor little thing.’ Like a victim mentality, you know. My life has always been about triumph and victory and glory. I always look at it like I go from charcoal to a diamond. So there’s no woe is me or poor me. We pull up. We go higher and deeper,” says the optimistic Santana.

He says that even in the downtime of the pandemic, when he wasn’t on the road, he says that he looked for the opportunity to find ways for his music and his message to elevate his listeners.

“That’s what we utilize this time for, to go deeper, higher, become more luminous, resplendent and incandescent. I’m talking about energy, basically, energy and frequency to help people claim their own divinity. You know, we’re not wretched sinners or donkeys and monkeys,” he elucidates. “We are a beam of light — light, spirit and soul. This is who we are.”

Drawing on the messages found in the music of John Lennon and Bob Marley, he adds “imagine a place where one day we will wake up on this planet and there will be peace on earth.” Alluding to movements to abolish weapons of mass destruction and activism by parents in San Diego, he says, “I believe, very, very clearly, that all of us on this planet, we are learning to become spiritual adults and make conscious decisions.”

He can see parallels between the mentality and movements of the 1960s and today.

“The thread that is consistent is that the hippies were right. We will transmogrify the corrupt corporations hiding behind flags. All those corrupt corporations are starting to be exposed for what they are,” he says. “We are arriving at waking up from this nightmare of superiority, inferiority, or any of that, you know, and we’re learning that we really are all one, one love.”

His tour is titled “Miraculous Supernatural,” echoing this sentiment.

“I think it’s important that people realize in their own way that everyone can manifest blessings and miracles. Everyone. You have to know how to push the right button inside yourself to manifest the frequency. You can elevate and illuminate the listener into a place where people can feel comfortable in their own skin,” Santana says.

Joining him on stage is his wife, Cindy Blackman Santana, who is a celebrated jazz and rock drummer and bandleader. Some may remember seeing her in the Lenny Kravitz video, “Are You Gonna Go My Way?” She toured with Kravitz for 17 years and has also worked with jazz greats such as Pharaoh Sanders, Sonny Simmons, Ron Carter, Sam Rivers, Cassandra Wilson, Angela Bofill and Bill Laswell. Carlos Santana proposed to her at a concert in 2010. She is also featured on the Santana/Isley Brothers release “Power of Peace,” on the song “I Remember,” which she wrote and sings.

“We’ve been accused that we’re not even making music. We’re just doing it on stage,” Santana jokes. “It’s an exchange of beautiful energy, and we trust one another, and it’s very vibrant.”

__

FAQ

Carlos Santana:

‘Miraculous Supernatural’ Tour

WHEN — 7 p.m. July 12

WHERE — Walmart AMP, 5079 W Northgate Road, Rogers

TICKETS — $45-$235

INFO — waltonartscenter.org/AMP

FYI — As of this publication, WAC spokeswoman Jennifer Wilson says the show is on as scheduled in spite of Santana’s health issue last week. Ticketholders will be notified if that changes.