John Paul Jones

Music should never be harmless.

I could see the blues was about survival.

The Blues is never old.

I’m going to make music out of whatever style it is, being true to the artform itself.

I try to teach by example and not force ideas on a young musician. We’re here to be part of a process of exchange.

I’ll be writing songs till I die. There’s just no question.

I wrote “Pilot of My Destiny” because of my love of flying. The fact that my brother is a pilot inspired me to write it. I call him pilot. He calls me copilot.

No two people on earth are alike, and it’s got to be that way in music or it isn’t music.

After two takes you’re imitating yourself.

I prefer no one to teach me. I prefer to swing on my own.

I started to like blues, I guess, when I was about 6 or 7 years old. There was something about it, because nobody else played that kind of music.

Each time I have the opportunity to play, it’s another chance to tell the truth.

Nobody has ever been able to define Jazz satisfactorily. This is probably because anyone who was capable of doing so never really wanted to, knowing how much you would have to leave out of the definition.

I am an American citizen and feel I am entitled to the same rights as any other citizen.

I don’t really get nervous, I prepare. When the music messed up in the beginning, it tapped into my nerves and when you’re nervous and vulnerable, something special and something different can happen.