I heard about Eric Von Essen from interviews with Nels Cline, who credits Von Essen with a lot of his musical education. (I like Nels C.'s music because it's studied and atavistic at the same time.) Apparently a sweet, sensitive, lonely musician guy who worked pretty regularly, had demons, took off for Sweden to get away from them, and died in his 40s. The music strikes me differently in different environments. In the car, it sounded half like an L. A. version of Oregon, half like West Coast studio jazz--a little too pastel. Here at this hour (after fighting with my Java configuration all day), it sounds like Ralph Towner jamming with Wayne Shorter, very beautiful and right for late night. (As, come to think of it, was Oregon.) (And, duh, Wayne Shorter.)