Length

Some would say it's not the length that matters, but the "motion of the ocean."  Of course this has absolutely nothing to do with music...or does it?

These thoughts come about after listening through the excerpts from Ellery Eskelin's (http://elleryeskelin.blogspot.com/) new album Trio New York with Gary Versace and Gerald Cleaver.  The excerpts posted on Eskelin's blog are between about 2:30 and 3:30 (and are only excerpts of what I assume to be much longer tracks) minutes and express some great improvisations.  I've been used to lately listening to relatively short solos from Ray Brown and Bill Evans and Miles Davis and it amazes me to switch to a group that can keep things interesting throughout an entire four minute long solo.  That is one of the things that draws me to Eskelin so much.  His development of ideas and glances at tonal improvisation and melody intermingled with spurts of free playing.  There are so many levels to the improvisations of this group it's astounding.

So anyways if you haven't checked out Ellery Eskelin, a few of my favorite albums of his are Different but the Same (with Dave Liebman), Ten, and One Great Night...Live.

Life is beautiful

Life is a beautiful experience.  You have the opportunity to share it with those you love (and in some cases those you hate) and those who love you.  It is a textbook example of happiness, if happiness really does exist.  And I suppose that happiness couldn't even really exist without life, but is it really considered life you aren't happiness doesn't exist in abundance?  These two seemingly unrelated things physically take on a whole new meaning when related to each other.  They are co-dependent on one another, they exist for the other to exist and exist so that the other can exist.  There are really no other goals for human beings going through the stage of existence that we call "life."  We are all pursuing happiness in it's many forms and elusive characters; whether it be the business man looking for his next promotion or the heavy metal guitar playing booking his next gig.  The happiness of our inner self is dependent on the happiness of those around us.  To be surrounded by happy people is to live in a life of luxury.  Material wants disappear and our wants and needs transcend that of physicality in the pursuit of a much higher connection.  That is the pursuit of life: the meaningful and happiness-drench connection between the people that you love around you.