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.