I definitely respect that opinion. It's a little different in my case. I'm a solo artist playing the music festival circuit who uses a looper pedal to mix up an eclectic blend of heady music on the flute, guitar, melodica, and synth. As an individual, I have no one to confer with, and I can make split second decisions based on pure vibes and instinct. Under these circumstances, the sponaneity and openess, has definitely taking me to countless remarkable musical situations that are delicately tailored to their time and place, and this is what my audiences love and come back for. It's completely unpredictable, but through experience and vision, I have learned to make it reliably interesting and compelling, rather than reptitive, unfocused or naval gazing. Yet, I definitely see how this instinctive fluidity would be restricted where more than one mind is involved, unless every member was essentially a Zen master... you know, like Phish ;) You really nailed it with your well-articulated last sentence: "The energy of the night isn't an ineffable ghost - a well-disciplined band can harness and shape the energy of the crowd. A sloppy and disorganized band will lose the crowd." I really couldn't agree more, but you may be overlooking one alternative, which I myself and others in my genre practice with great diligence. And that is there can be a great dicispline in awareness, listening, consciousness, and spontaneity. This can actually be practiced and mastered, so that you don't just have a bunch of musicians pulling in different directions and scratching their heads about creative choices, rather, all are listening, feeling, sensing, intuiting, on a deep and highly focused level, and of course all have developed the facility on the intstruments to respond quickly and with authority on their respective instruments. In this type of approach, you can achieve a deep synergy with one's audience and create a magic more inspiring and compelling than any meticulously crafted offering. But truthfully, I think the greatest expression is somewhere in the middle, where craft and intention, meet spontaneity and inspiration in harmony. To me music is a very fluid language, and it's meaning comes from something bigger than an individual. I've worked hard to speak fluently, but the content is something I pick up on and tune in on. Whatever consciousness inpires a timeless and meaningful melody, is ever present, potent, and eager to flower. There is definitley a pure realm of music where grace flows with majesty and authority. My life's work is to be a consistent channel of this consciousness and sing it from the mountaintops.