Quote

James Brown was the Monday-to-Friday guy. He was the hardest man in show business. He was like your dad and your uncle: He showed up, and he hit hard.

James Brown is the reason I play guitar.

But that kind of falls in line; when you think about it, James Brown was a funk minimalist. All of those parts create a sum that's larger than than the individual parts.

I think the best thing about being James Brown is looking at my little son. Hopefully I can make my son a role model to a lot of people.

James Brown was my favorite, my absolute idol. Every time I played with him was like a music lesson, and I never thought I could be so funky! I mean, a white boy from Canada - a Jew - getting down with his funky bad self!

John Brown was the abolitionist to end all abolitionists. People thought he was crazy. He was like John Coltrane playing free jazz, exhausting all possibilities in his approach to harmony and improvisation.

What's more important than who's going to be the first black manager is who's going to be the first black sports editor of the New York Times.

John Brown was clearly flawed in real life. He did some terrible things, but he did some things none of us would have had the heart to do. His moral leanings were unquestionably admirable.

Everybody knew James Brown. Every musician dreamed of being in his band.

I named my new son James Joseph Brown II. I think he's going to be a lot better than I was.