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" I wanted to keep pushing the musical ideas I had about jazz, music from Africa and the Caribbean. "

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" Music is like the soul of the planet. "

" More and more people are finally realizing that in the heart of America, there's all this incredible music that wasn't widely heard before because it wasn't in the interest of those who feel they have to control the taste of the wider public. "

" Particularly with the blues, it's not just about bad times. It's about the healing spirit. "

" I'm doing exactly what I always wanted to do, and I still like what I can do musically. "

" What you have to understand is that blues... it's in a line from the oldest forms of African music. If you're playing it like it's an echo of the past, it would be a lot less exciting, but this music lives today. "

" When I was a kid, there was so much talent outside of recorded music. "

" The song of the blues, the song of the music, was something a lot of people missed out on. They thought they had to swagger a certain way or bark at the mic, and you don't have to do that. "

" My music is really fun music, with some pan-African and pan-American influences. "

" As a kid, I always felt connected to Africa; it was something I was very proud of. "

" My perspective is cultural and world-based. It's always been a global perspective. "

" I wanted to explore the connections between different kinds of music. "

" No matter what went down, music was always going to be a part of my life. What ultimately happened is that, over a period of time, I just kind of looked around and when like, 'Wow! I'm actually making a living doing this.' "

" Very old music is, like, 11th century in my mind. That's very old. "

" I haven't worn one for a long time, but I look pretty good in a suit. "

" I'm old enough to chew my peas and corn without choking. "

" It's just like heirloom tomatoes; this is heirloom music. We used to have all kinds of diversity in our poultry, in our vegetables, in our fruits, and slowly but surely the monoculture beast comes in. I'm saying that's not a good idea. And if it means that I gotta do it on my own, then I do it on my own. "

" When I was 5 or 6, I was messing around with the piano, and I listened to everything from Chopin to boogie-woogie. "

" I've only been on MTV once as one of their 'Closet Classics,' with some bootleg footage of a 1970 tour I did in Holland. They didn't know what to make of my music, but they finally invented a name for it - world beat music. "

" I didn't want to fall into the trap of complacency. "

" American music is a powerful ingredient in international music, and as much as it comes from within, it also comes from without. "

" I came up not understanding that a lot of people didn't start to hear music until they went to college or were turned on by an older brother or sister. "

" I base myself in African-derived music. Blues is one of the modern forms of African music. "

" Naw, it - it never stops, man... You gotta be doing what you're supposed to be doing - whenever, however it's coming down, you know. If you're getting your butt kicked - you still gotta do what you gotta be doing. "

" I was always looking for evidence of these common musical roots, but I was too young to know that what I was doing was called ethnomusicology. "

" My mother was American, and my father was from the Caribbean, and there was a big open door into the world of humanity and music. "

" The blues is played everywhere. There's no place I've been where they don't have blues or aren't interested in blues. "

" All the music that I play today, I actually heard either at home or in my neighborhood when I was growing up in the '40s and '50s. "

" I just worked my own personal thoughts into my music, and just kept at it until I found a way in. "

" It's very interesting, the dynamics of popularity. When you do something all the time, you don't worry about whether it's trendy or not. "

" If what you're talking about is seeing someone perform, then I'll have to say that in the rhythm-and-blues side of things, seein' Otis Redding live was it, you know? "