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As far as I'm concerned, blues and jazz are the great American contributions to music.

I grew up watching American films, listening to American music, and it's a big contribution to the rest of the world. I mean, American jazz, for me, is the best thing culturally that America has produced.

Jazz was the pop music of its day, and all American popular music has stemmed from it one way or another.

I think it was that we were really seasoned musicians. We had serious roots that spanned different cultures, obviously the blues.

I was into playing American music, especially the blues.

You know, jazz is the mother of all American music. R&B and pop and rap and everything are the branches on the main tree of the life of music, American music, which is jazz.

Jazz comes from our way of life, and because it's our national art form, it helps us to understand who we are.

I'm an Australian, and when I grew up much of my influences were American - blues music and country music, all that sort of thing.

The Beatles and The Stones were basically inspired by American Rhythm and Blues.

Jazz is a very accurate, curiously accurate accompaniment to 20th century America.