Mayall spoke with liveDaily about the concert, Clapton and Taylor, and his website johnmayall.com, while on the road in California.

liveDaily: How did the 70th Birthday Concert come together?

John Mayall: It came through the record company, through Eagle, because they had a tie-in with UNICEF. I guess it all originally stemmed from UNICEF. They spent about a year to put it together, the big concert in Liverpool. So bit by bit it came together, and the musical part was, of course, about the last thing that needed to be done, because once they'd signed me on board, they just left it to me to take charge of the music and select my guest artists.

I've heard you mention a couple jazz heavyweights as role models, namely Art Blakey and Horace Sliver. Have you patterned yourself after bandleaders like this, when it's come to you bringing specific musicians into your family?

Well, not directly, but by example, I would say. Art Blakey was just wonderful. Very prolific, and a great bandleader. Some of the greatest lineups ever, in the jazz-bop era. Bobby Timmons, Lee Morgan. There are quite a lot of people; we could go on forever!

What's more important to you when picking musicians for your band: musical ability or whether or not you want to throw them out of the window?

The personal friendship is first and foremost. Second of all, they must be non-smokers, so no cigarettes--it's a non-smoking band. It's the whole package, really. You assume that you love their playing, so if their personality and everything else fits, then that's fine. That's why people stay in the band for so long;, they've been buddies with me for 10 years. [Drummer] Joe [Yuele] has been with me for 18 years now. A long-winding affair.

Tell me the story about discovering Eric Clapton. It was the B-side of The Yardbirds' "For Your Love" that grabbed your attention. What was that title?

It was "Got To Hurry." It was an instrumental, 12-bar blues. Eric just had it all; he understood the blues. You can't explain it in words. Music speaks for itself. It was evident from listening to it that he understood the blues, and I really wanted to play with him. After he left The Yardbirds, he was quite open to it.

Then he left the Yardbirds and you offered him a job. What did you have in common?

He joined the Bluesbreakers in '65. We had the same interests, and, of course, I had a very large record collection. We spent many hours going over it together, and enjoying it. We ended up recording the one Bluesbreakers album, which came out after he left. It was done towards the last part of the year that he was with me.

How did Mick Taylor come into the band?

He was the choice after Peter Green left to form Fleetwood Mac. Peter took Mick Fleetwood--who was my drummer at the time--and John McVie, who had joined a couple of months later. That was the foundation of Fleetwood Mac. So I called Mick Taylor, because I'd known of him--he'd sat in with us from time to time--and he was the choice to follow.

Is there anybody you haven't worked with that you'd like to?

I did that with [the 2001 album] "Along For the Ride." That was the perfect opportunity to round up all the people I hadn't worked with on a regular level. All these guest artists: Billy Gibbons, Shannon Curfman, Jonny Lang, Billy Preston--there are 40 musicians on that album.

With all the performing you do, is there ever time to pay attention to any new music?

There's nothing specific, but I listen to a wide range of music. I'm always asked this question and I never know how to answer it because, you know, there's just so much music out there. My tastes are pretty wide, pretty much everything except rap.

Talk a little bit about your website, johnmayall.com.

We find it's an invaluable tool for keeping in touch with the fans, and we've had it going for a couple of years now, maybe three. It [lets] all the people know where we are, what's going on, and keeps them up to date. Not a day goes by without a whole bunch of questions that people want answered, and I answer questions personally. We have CDs that are only available on our website. It's marvelous.