What made Garaj Mahal pursue such a heavy fusion direction on w00t?
We’re a band of writers, but we came to realize the individuals weren’t on the same page, so we came up with a system in which each member got to contribute two songs, with the author serving as bandleader, producer, and mixer of his tracks. That allowed us to get over any ego issues and move forward. As part of that process, everyone felt the freedom to really let it hang out and go beyond the more polite boundaries of our previous records. Another agreement we made was this record should pay respect to our fusion roots; you’ll definitely hear Headhunters, Weather Report, and Mahavishnu Orchestra influences. The leaders of those acts were all part of Miles Davis’s pioneering fusion bands in the late ’60s. You can go through Fareed and myself to find direct links to that scene. Miles took John McLaughlin under his wing and also provided a forum for Joe Zawinul as a composer; John and Joe did the same for me and Fareed when we were in their bands. Eric Levy and Alan Hertz are the new ca
