John McLaughlin Quotes

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.

There are two kinds of success. One is musical or artistic and the other is commercial.

The moment you start to talk about playing music, you destroy music. It cannot be talked about. It can only be played, enjoyed and listened to.

The mathematics of rhythm are universal. They don’t belong to any particular culture.

Only in spontaneity can we be who we truly are.

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.’

Interplay and interaction are the integral parts of music – they’re as important as the notes.

In my opinion, there is one singular problem with religions in general: they are exclusive. To me, this exclusivity is not right.

I’ve been studying the cultures of Asia for many years, and I’m very attracted to the culture of Japan, in particular to the impact Zen has had on the Japanese mind and spirit.

I’ve been more or less vegetarian for about 40 years. Health diet really helps. I do meditation every day, and either yoga or sport several times a week.

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.

I don’t have any particular goals in making a recording. In a way the recording is itself the goal. The music comes into my mind, and from there the main job is to give form to it.

I don’t have any message in the music. Music will be fine as long as you take care of yourself.

At the risk of sounding hopelessly romantic, love is the key element. I really love to play with different musicians who come from different cultural backgrounds.