Jorma Kaukonen Quotes

#1. Of course when you are a kid you listen to what your parents had around. A lot of gospel, jazz. Now when I started to listen to music on my own it was around the time of the birth of rock and roll. Shortly thereafter I started to get into more blues and more traditional rootsy American music.

Jorma Kaukonen

#2. I can only be me. I do what I do, I'm not a jazz player ... I don't play jazz standards, at least not in any recognizable way. It's not my turf but I have plenty of respect for that style of playing.

Jorma Kaukonen

#3. I liken feedback to the effect of when you go surfing; you can get pummeled by a wave, but if you balance the forces right, you can have a dandy ride ... that's pretty much what feedback is ...

Jorma Kaukonen

#4. The blessing of this music is that it is fun to do and it keeps evolving.

Jorma Kaukonen

#5. We do a wealth of stuff (live), drawing from over the years.

Jorma Kaukonen

#6. Just because a guitar is old doesn't make it good ... I've seen guitars that were old but weren't as good as the reissue ... for me, it's not the age that makes it happen, it's the quality of the instrument ...

Jorma Kaukonen

#7. I don't care if my lettuce has DDT on it, just as long as it's crisp.

Jorma Kaukonen

#8. My dad was president of the Finlandia Foundation for a number of years and there was a period of time when he tried to get me in. I'm glad I finally got in.

Jorma Kaukonen

#9. My dad is from Ironwood and the last time I was in Marquette was in 1995 when my dad was still alive. Dad would have loved this. Even though my family is long gone from this area it still feels like home.

Jorma Kaukonen

#10. I'm not sure I ever pleased Ian [Buchanan] with my progress, but he continued to tolerate me. I had to work at everything that I did. Well, it wasn't work; it was fun actually.

Jorma Kaukonen

#11. With the bass it's another thing. I don't need to use alternate thumb-picking as much. Even though Jack says he loves it. My thought is that it might irritate him somewhat.

Jorma Kaukonen

#12. Some hit songs are really stupid, and who knows why they're hits. But a lot of hit songs are really good. I agree with Jim [Lauderdale] in that I think the really good ones are songs that when you hear it [sic] ... there's just something about it that touches your heart, and you don't know why.

Jorma Kaukonen