As I work tonight, I'm listening to "Close to the Edge" by Yes. I have cranked up the volume and I find myself surrounded by uninhibited on-fire genius. This song by Yes is so well crafted that I'm listening for the third time in a row, and it deserves these replays. Are there any bands out there today who are willing to experiment like this? Is there a modern version of ELP? Are there any modern versions of "Stairway to Heaven"? My sad gut feeling is that far too much of today's music is crammed into pre-determined tropes. I know there has been crappy music in every decade and that I'm listening to something extraordinary tonight. But does anyone have recommendations of any bands today that are thoughtful, complex, unrelentingly excellent and experimental? Self-consciously uninhibited and not primarily driven to satisfy a mass-market?

Rolling Stone issues this statement from Chick Corea's family: “Through his body of work and the decades he spent touring the world, he touched and inspired the lives of millions.” True words here. I was touched and inspired for decades. I'm playing Chick's music as I write this. His richly woven joyously executed musical phrases will continue to live in me for the rest of my days.

Is it too macabre to think that, within the severe constraint of a few decades on this planet, our task, for each of us, is to create a body of work that remains once we are dead? To spend our lives creating our something worth remembering? That's how I see it.

Once we are gone, what remains of us? If we are not careful, if we allow time to slip through our fingers, it might be difficult to find evidence that we ever existed. For others, our self-appointed task is to nurture those in our communities, including our children.

For yet others, the task is (also) to leave artistic treasures that might live on indefinitely. That is the silver lining about the death of jazz great Chick Corea. I didn't know him personally. I'd saddened for his family and I'm disappointed that he not be able to create new music. Yet he continues to be intensely and exhuberently alive in the many recordings of his performances. For that I am grateful.