Europa (Earth´s Cry Heaven´s Smile)

“Europa (Earth’s Cry Heaven’s Smile)” is an instrumental from the Santana album Amigos, written by Carlos Santana and Tom Coster. It is one of Santana’s most popular compositions and it reached the top in the Spanish Singles Chart in July 1976.

The 16-bar chord progression follows the Circle of Fifths, similar to the jazz standard “Autumn Leaves”. Every other verse ends with a Picardy cadence.

One rendition was by saxophonist Gato Barbieri off his 1976 album Caliente. In 2006, saxophonist Jimmy Sommers recorded the song for his Standards album Time Stands Still. Contemporary jazz guitarist Nils released a rendition from his 2009 album Up Close & Personal. Blake Aaron covers the song on his 2015 album Soul Stories.

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