Did you approach your guitar playing with Spectrum Road differently than, say, Living Colour?

“My approach was trying to morph the clean and the dirty. Carlos Santana is a huge influence there – and that’s certainly interesting in this band since I’m playing with his wife. Both Carlos and Jimi Hendrix are big guys to me, but I never tried to copy them. I would listen to them and go, ‘What can I bring to what they’re doing?’”

Speaking of Cindy, how is it playing with her?

“Playing with her is a lot of fun. She’s a very funny person, but she’s an extraordinary player. I’m blown away by how much she brings it. She’s in it to kill it. Beyond that, it’s a different dynamic having a female in the band. It’s not a bunch of dudes and all of that testosterone.”

And what's it like working with John?

“John brings so many shades to the music that somebody else wouldn’t. He’s an outstanding soloist, but he’s a very interesting colorist, too. One thing that makes this record sound so cool is his use of the Mellotron, an instrument that is very much associated with The Moody Blues and a certain era of psychedelic music. It puts a kind of art-rock feel on the music, and that’s something that jazz didn’t have.”