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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.

-John McLaughlin

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I'm Not Any Different

John McLaughlin

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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.

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In A Way Records Are Like Paintings. Instead Of Using Paints And Brushes We Use Sounds And Instruments.

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.

Human Experience

I Believe Everybody Is Spiritual And No One Is Any More Spiritual Than Anyone Else.

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.'

There Is Really No Spiritual Message That I'm Trying To Convey With My Music, It's Just A Personal Thing. I Really Believe That The More Personal We Get, In A Way, The More Universal The Implications.

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.

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Interplay And Interaction Are The Integral Parts Of Music - They're As Important As The Notes.

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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.

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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'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.

Spirituality Is Worthless If It's Not Practical. Music Is My Work. I Am A Musician.

In A Certain Sense, These Were Lessons I Learned By Playing With Indian Musicians. The Rhythmic Forms That They Use Are Very Complex, And Very Challenging. In Order To Play In Fifteen, Or Eleven, Or Seven Or Even Five, You Have To Have Mastered That Time In Order To Be Able To Be Free With The Music.

Music That Touches The Transcendental Aspect Of A Human Being Is Reserved For A Marginal Audience

I Was Dealing With A Lot Of Spiritual Questions Like "who Am I?" "what Is God" "what Is The Meaning Of Life?" All Of These Questions That I Think We Can Either Face Head On Or Choose To Ignore, It's Up To Us.

Meaning Of Life

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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.

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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.

The Mathematics Of Rhythm Are Universal. They Don't Belong To Any Particular Culture.

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