POP MUSIC REVIEW : Santana and Beck Are Like Night, Day

Both Carlos Santana and Jeff Beck are bona-fide guitar heroes, instantly recognizable players who at times have felt restricted by pop music forms and audience expectations. The radically different paths of their careers provided a night-and-day contrast at the first show of their four-night stand at the Greek Theatre Tuesday.

Beck was among the first to explore the sonic possibilities of the guitar, and his hourlong instrumental set showed that he remains an endlessly unpredictable, fascinating player with a flair for rude, aggressive noises. With his shoulder-length shag haircut, Beck looked like he did 20 years ago, but the sound of his technically adroit but soulless quartet also was stuck in a time-warp.

Carlos Santana didn’t just find an individual voice early in his career--he found a group sound, and 25 years as a working band has turned the group Santana into an institution that no longer needs to play the hits to satisfy its audience. That sound--the racing percussion foundation beneath the leader’s clear, sustained notes and rhythm-based runs--ruled during the septet’s two-hour set.

It didn’t sound tired, due to the overall musicianship, Carlos’ facility as an improviser, and tight arrangements that mixed bits of house, rap, jazz and Bob Marley’s “Exodus” into the basic Santana sound. The powerful surge under Chester Thompson’s organ solo on “Guajira” was irresistible, and the “Black Magic Woman”/”Oye Como Va” encore was the only nod to the band’s hit parade.

* Santana and Jeff Beck, with Angelique Kidjo opening, play Friday and Saturday at the Greek Theatre, 2700 N. Vermont Ave., 7 p.m. Sold out. (213) 480-3232.