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" If the Rolling Stones are playing a concert across town, that's not my audience anyways. But I do find that there's a lot of people coming back around to see me again. "

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" 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. "

Taj Mahal

Door

Mother

World

" 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. "

Taj Mahal

Growing Up

Home

" I'm perceived as someone who goes out and searches for new music, but it was all present in my household. "

" What the future of the planet and music and art and all of it is sharing; it's diversity. "

" It's pretty exciting. An honorary doctorate of the arts. It doesn't get any better. "

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

" I see myself as a composer who plays music and likes to play with other people, and not just as a solo artist. "

" 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.' "

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

" As I got more involved in music, one of the things that made me excited, from the time I was a child, was that clear link between our ancestors and the sounds we hear today. "

Taj Mahal

Time

Child

" I don't care if it's somebody else's song. Most of the time, you'll find that I'll put my own stamp on it. But I started writing more because, you know, it's easy to regurgitate what somebody else is doing, but it's exciting to be able to come up with your own writing. "

" 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 love playing in Germany. I love playing anywhere where people are going to enjoy the music. Germany is especially nice to play. "

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

" 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? "

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

" 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 parents grew up during the Harlem renaissance. "

Taj Mahal

Parents

Grew

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

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

" My grandparents on my father's side came to this country from the Caribbean with a strong connection to Africa and no shame about it. "

" 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. "

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

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

" 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. "

" As a solo performer, it's total involvement. What I do is to break down the wall between audience and performer. "

" As a youngster, my parents made me aware that all that was from the African Diaspora belonged to me. So I came in with Caribbean music, African music, Latin music, gospel music and blues. "

Taj Mahal

Parents

Caribbean

" I'm doing exactly what I should be doing, every day on the road. "

" I would have never gotten to college if it hadn't been for getting up at 4 A.M. and milking them Holsteins. "

" The one thing I've always demanded of the records I've made is that they be danceable. "