Only in spontaneity can we be who we truly are.
I find Indian music very funky. I mean it's very soulful, with their own kind of blues. But it's the only other school on the planet that develops improvisation to the high degree that you find in jazz music. So we have a lot of common ground.
The whole point of working and practicing your whole life is so that you're ready when that moment arrives; when the inspiration arrives, you are ready to be at the disposal of inspiration.
Music speaks from spirit to spirit and in that sense you could call it a true spiritual language.
When I hear a great musician, I can feel his life inside the music.
If I can get out of the way, if I can be pure enough, if I can be selfless enough, and if I can be generous and loving and caring enough to abandon what I have in my own preconceived silly notions of what I think I am - and become truly who in fact I am, which is really just another child of God - then the music can really use me. And therein lies my fulfillment. That's when the music starts to happen.
You can have the greatest player in terms of mastering an instrument and you could be yawning your head off when you hear them. So, it's not what you do, but the way you're doing it and in the end that's all that we have
Music that touches the transcendental aspect of a human being is reserved for a marginal audience
Interplay and interaction are the integral parts of music - they're as important as the notes.
For me, rhythm is a type of divine mathematics in a way. No matter where you're from, we can all understand the mathematics of rhythm. I try to apply this mathematical thinking to my playing.
I practice all the scales. Everyone should know lots of scales. Actually, I feel there are only scales. What is a chord, if not the notes of a scale hooked together?
Spirituality is worthless if it's not practical. Music is my work. I am a musician.
There are two kinds of success. One is musical or artistic and the other is commercial.
My entire life is dedicated to music, and at my age, that makes a lot of years! But all the work and dedication is only that I'm able to forget myself and let the music do the 'talking.'
The mathematics of rhythm are universal. They don't belong to any particular culture.
I believe everybody is spiritual and no one is any more spiritual than anyone else.
I'm never trying to preach to anybody with my music, but I'm aware of the universal nature of the human experience and I try to reach out and connect with people in that manner.
The music dictates to me which instrument I use. I'm basically waiting for orders as it were.
Everyone can lock into the rhythm on a tune. It's organic in nature. It connects the band as a whole and connects the band to the audience.
When you open box after box of old comics and they're ALL "Archie," you have suffered a trauma from which it is difficult to ever recover.
Absolutely, all guitars are different. You can go into a store and grab five guitars, all the same model, and even though they look identical they're not identical. They play differently, they feel a bit different and they sound slightly different.
In a way records are like paintings. Instead of using paints and brushes we use sounds and instruments.
I just want to keep exploring music and hopefully the orders will keep coming in and I'll be able to keep growing the interior and exterior sides of my life.
I'm not any different from you or the guy down the street or across the globe, we're all connected in some way and hopefully my music can integrate that feeling of human connectedness.
When Indian musicians play a raga it's very restrictive. But, in a way these restraints are essential to liberate yourself through them, if that makes sense. I'm very much of this school of rhythm, it's the direction I'm drawn in when I'm writing and improvising.
