John Mayall

Working with people, the musical part is one thing but the personal part is totally different and just as critical. If the friendship is there and it’s a lasting friendship, then it will take care of itself.

When I write songs that touch on social relevance, all you have to do is pick up a newspaper.

I also went to art school and learned to play a piano there, but I play by ear.

Everybody I know in England was raised on Mose Allison.

I get most of my news from the Jon Stewart Daily Show. It’s the most level commentary you can find. You have to laugh, because it’s all so true. It’s the closest thing to a counterculture.

I keep healthy and I’m always very active and always have been so. I don’t really see any signs of aging yet. Music keeps you young.

In Jazz, improvisation isn’t a matter of just making any ol’ thing up. Jazz, like any language, has its own grammer and vocabulary. There’s no right or wrong, just some choices that are better than others.

New artists can own their content and completely build their base and their following without having to sell or be owned by anybody and it creates such a diversity.

Music gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and charm and gaiety to life.

I’ve been a jazz artist playing pop and R&B my entire career.

And if I had a preference, it would be to be able to not be in the studio until 4 in the morning.

The first jazz I heard was Duke Ellington. I was learning to play classical music, but my teacher swapped out those lessons for jazz lessons because I had started adding grace notes to Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff.

I try to practice with my life.

I hate to think of Jazz as black and white, something political.

In this trumpet I hear our icons and the sound of the future.

It takes an intelligent ear to listen to Jazz.

Jazz standards are our contribution to music history.

Jazz is the only music in which the same note can be played night after night but differently each time.

This be an empty world without the blues.

Play what you know and then play above that.

It’s easy to play any musical instrument, just touch the right key at the right time and the instrument will play itself.