Santana, Isley Brothers give ‘Peace’ a chance

Ernie Isley possesses zeal.

For real. That’s the name of his instrument.

“My guitar is named Zeal, as in, my burning desire to play,” says one-half of the Isley Brothers, the instrument during a chat at the Foundation Room at Mandalay Bay.

So what is this tricked-out Fender Stratocaster, with inlaid gold lettering on the neck, worth on the free market?

“It’s beyond price,” Isley says, laughing. “You won’t find this at a pawn shop, no … never.”

Ernie and his legendary older brother, Ronald Isley, have forged a priceless collaboration with House of Blues at Mandalay Bay headliner Carlos Santana and his fiery percussionist wife, Cindy Blackman Santana. Their new album, “Power of Peace,” was released Friday. The quartet appears on “CBS This Morning” on Sunday to talk more about the album. Santana, with Cindy on drums, is back at House of Blues in September.

The Isleys have been Santana fans since his monumental 1969 performance at Woodstock.

“Carlos was so young, talking about how nervous he was about playing in front of Jimi Hendrix,” Ronald Isley says. “But all Jimi was doing was what any great guitar player would do. He played what he wanted to play, and Carlos is that kind of artist. He can do whatever he wants. Ernie is that way, too, and I have always wanted to see what happened when Carlos and Ernie get together.”

Santana has been an Isley fan since the original Isley Brothers – Ronnie, O’Kelly and Rudolph Isley — unleashed “Twist and Shout” in 1962.

“When I arrived from Tijuana and landed in San Francisco, in the Mission District, they had this jukebox in this Mexican cantina and they constantly kept playing ‘Twist and Shout,’ ” Santana says. “This was before The Beatles invaded, and it wasn’t until later that I realized that Ronnie Isley was, like, the first Michael Jackson, who got us to move with that voice.”

The brothers and both Santanas began talking of the “Power of Peace” album about three years ago, when Ronnie Isley joined the “Santana IV” recording sessions in Las Vegas. “Power of Peace” was finished last fall, an album loaded with refashioned covers of such classics as Stevie Wonder’s “Higher Ground,” Billie Holiday’s “God Bless the Child,” Curtis Mayfield’s “Gypsy Woman,” Dionne Warwick and Jackie DeShannon’s “What the World Needs Now is Love ” and the Chamber Brothers’ “Love, Peace and Happiness.”

Cindy Blackman Santana checks in with an original, “I Remember,” and also sings the song. The collective feeling is “Power of Peace” is a full-family project.

“We’re all comrades, you know? We all have our voices,” Santana says. “Ronnie has his voice, Cindy’s drums are her voice. Eddie and I chose the guitar as our voice. We have a language that articulates very well.”

Ernie says he’s “wowed” by the opportunity to finally jam alongside Santana, who turned 70 July 20 and remains a prodigious recording artist and live performer.

“When he was playing at Woodstock … I was still in high school, I had just gotten my first guitar, and I was doing my homework on Carlos like I was in study hall,” Isley says. “He’s obviously very unique. He’s the only one who plays like he plays and it was a joy playing with him.”

Santana often jokes that many of his more recent fans have no idea that the Ronald Isley is the guy who sang “Twist and Shout” before The Beatles.

“I always liked their version,” Isley says with a laugh. “The first time we went to England to do a show, they had recorded it and they asked if we liked the way they did the song. We said it was good, but you know, we felt like if you’re going to get in the ring with us on our own song, we’re going to go all Muhammad Ali on you. We’ll knock you out.”

The Isley Brothers laugh at that line. After all, they come in peace.

John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on Twitter, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.