Jazz Articles about Garaj Mahal

John McLaughlin and 4th Dimension , The Mahavishnu Project, Trilok Gurtu and Garaj Mahal

by Len Davis
May 8, 2022

Garaj Mahal: More Mr. Nice Guy

by Woodrow Wilkins
May 14, 2010

There is different, and there is distinct. Either can describe More Mr. Nice Guy by Garaj Mahal, although the latter is probably more telling. Several genres of music are mixed, matched and pushed around in this effort. Garaj Mahal features guitar and sitar virtuoso Fareed Haque, bass master and educator Kai Eckhardt, gospel-inspired keyboardist Eric Levy and drummer Sean Rickman. The group blends jazz with rock, Middle-Eastern sounds and funk. The members have associated with a number of ...

Garaj Mahal: More Mr. Nice Guy

by AAJ Staff
April 3, 2010

American funk, jazz, African-based rhythms and Middle Eastern modalities are all part of the collective sound of Garaj Mahal's More Mr. Nice Guy. That, perhaps, is the “nicest" characteristic of this CD, where there's a multitude of voices sounding from the corners of our blue marble--although “smoking hot" might be a better description. Reminiscent of Return to Forever, fusion and world music, these musicians have a vast tapestry of stories to tell.

The Flat Earth Ensemble, ...

Garaj Mahal: Blueberry Cave

by Chris M. Slawecki
November 26, 2005

The fifth studio release from this San Francisco quartet embodies the modern instrumental jam band movement and preserves the freewheeling legacy of 1970s progressive rock along the way.

Alan Hertz (drums), Eric Levy (keyboards), Kai Eckhardt (bass), and Fareed Haque (guitar) came into Garaj Mahal from varied backgrounds: Eckhardt played in John McLaughlin's trio, for example, while Haque served as an occasional musical sparring partner for the late drummer Tony Williams and trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie. But one thing ...

Garaj Mahal: Live, Vols. 1-3

by Chris M. Slawecki
May 11, 2003

Individually and in combinations, the members of Garaj Mahal - Eric Levy (keyboards), Alan Hertz (drums), Kai Eckhardt (bass) and Fareed Haque (guitar) - have accompanied Dizzy Gillespie, Stanley Clarke, Al DiMeola, Steve Smith's Vital Information, and the John McLaughlin Trio. These three simultaneous (individually packaged) live sets fish with hip young bait in the hopes of making a big splash in the same free-flowing, neo-hippie college radio jam band waters in which such bands as Phish and Widespread Panic ...