John Mayall

If you have something in your life worth celebrating, you can put it in a blues song.

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 have good health and I am happy to be on the road all the time.

I managed to pick out some pretty special people.

To me, they are equally important, as they represent a certain period in my life and times. With that in mind, it really is impossible to pick favorites.

My singing evolved with a feeling of intense relaxation, always using my diaphram and breathing specifically through my nose.

I’ve tried all my life to avoid copying. If I can’t be myself, there’s no point being in Jazz.

We all have idols. Play like anyone you care about, but try to be yourself while you’re doing so.

Jazz music is the real deal.

He knows I rip him off every day. He’s the godfather for me. Nobody can say they aren’t influenced by what Stevie Wonder has done.

The piano ain’t got no wrong notes.

[On the word Jazz] There’s nothing wrong with it. It’s only a word. What’s in a name? Nothing! Cats say, Call me Muhammed so-and-so. But what’s the difference? A name doesn’t make the music. It’s just called that to differentiate it from other types of music. Jazz is known all over the world as an American musical art form and that’s it. No America, no jazz. I’ve seen people try to connect it to other countries, for instance to Africa, but it doesn’t have a damn thing to do with Africa.

Men have died for this music. You can’t get more serious than that.

Jazz is the big brother of the blues. If a guy’s playing blues like we play, he’s in high school. When he starts playing jazz it’s like going on to college, to a school of higher learning.

It’s part of what the blues does, to write about these things. JB Lenoir was the main one in this regard – he wrote about Korea, too, in fact. Songs that reflect these current situations – in his case, racial issues for the most part: in my case, what has happened to me, and I was in Korea.

If a player is pushing their ability, a certain amount of failure is inevitable. Maybe even desirable.

If I could sell 500 million records every time, it would be great. But I’ve also had the luxury experience of having it when I was a teenager, in a very kind of model version of it.

It was in tune when I bought it.

It’s just exciting to be part of something that is brand-new.

When you listen to someone improvise, the notes that are played are only half the story.