In a deliberate blend of "East-meets-West" musical styles, other performers include Indian-music pioneers Alla Rakha, Ashish Khan, Shivkumar Sharma and Hariprasad Chaurasia, and Western musicians such as Tom Scott, Emil Richards, Billy Preston, Ringo Starr and Jim Keltner.

[10] In addition to Starr, Preston et al., as producer, Harrison invited Tom Scott (on saxophones and flute), Emil Richards (marimbas), Jim Keltner (drums) and David Bromberg (guitar) along to participate.

[13] For the Indian contingent, Shankar chose a cast of similarly illustrious names: Alla Rakha and Kamala Chakravarty, both of whom had supported him at the Concert for Bangladesh;[14] Ashish Khan, Shivkumar Sharma and Hariprasad Chaurasia, on sarod, santoor and bamboo flute, respectively, who had all taken part in Harrison's 1968 sessions for the Wonderwall soundtrack album (and by extension, for the Beatles track "The Inner Light");[15] and Lakshmi Shankar, L. Subramaniam and Harihar Rao, all of whom likewise went on to feature in the Music Festival from India venture the following year.

Side two (from the track "Overture" onwards) was written as a proposed ballet entitled Dream, Nightmare & Dawn,[5] made up of what Harrison biographer Simon Leng describes as "adventurous ensemble compositions, improvised on the spot in two days".

[23][24] The result across the fourteen tracks is a blend of traditional Indian music, jazz, funk, rock and Western pop – in Shankar's words, "The album contains almost every possible style that you can think of.

According to pop-culture author Robert Rodriguez, Shankar was in two minds about the album's fusion of Indian music and Western styles, remaining "sensitive to charges that he was abandoning his classical roots for the rewards of superstardom".

[35][36] Reviewing the release for AllMusic, Richie Unterberger opines that "the more traditional pieces [come] off best" on Shankar Family & Friends, which he views as "the least artistically successful of the [four] discs", with "the blend sometimes sounding forced and, more surprisingly, occasionally sappy".

[37] Conversely, Terry Staunton of Record Collector considered it to be "arguably ... the most accessible" of the albums, on a box set that is "a strong testament to two friends' mutual respect and their desire to push musical boundaries".

Staunton added of Shankar Family & Friends: "Classical Indian musicians rub shoulders with regular Harrison buddies, the clash of cultures resulting in a succession of intoxicating melodies.

"[38] Although he finds the pop version of "I Am Missing You" incompatible with the rest of the album, PopMatters' Sachyn Mital admires the ballet, writing: "'Overture' demonstrates the musical diversity the project encompasses ... 'Dispute & Violence' starts with vocal call and response interaction then transforms into an upbeat dance number.

"[23] In her review for Goldmine magazine, Gillian Gaar notes the "crossover appeal" of the album and the "variety of musical colors" presented in the ballet, among which "the overture even has hints of Caribbean flavor".