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

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

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

" 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. "

" I was always taught that Latin, Caribbean people were cousins to me, as well as blues was a cousin to me, as well as Africans were direct relatives to me. It was all a part of my language. "

" 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. "

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

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

" 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. "

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

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

" 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. "

" Music is like the soul of the planet. "

" 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 enjoy music wherever it's coming from. "

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

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

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

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

" 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.' "

" I don't need the credits for playing the blues and paying the dues. I've already done it. There are some other things to do here - movies and scores and voice-overs. "

" In looking out into the world, it didn't look all that nice out there. And who were the nice people? Certainly Mahatma Gandhi was. "

" 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. "

" My parents grew up during the Harlem renaissance. "

" 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. "

" 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'm a composer, man. "

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

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

" 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. "