Integration is also important on a purely musical level. In fact, the more time I spend listening, the more I think that there might not be anything else. If we look for inspiration to come as something entirely new, we'll probably be disappointed. It's much better to think of music as the result of a massive number of synthesizing moments, with each new product a potential basis for further bonding. It's also apparent to me that the more grounded an artist is in her or his particular discipline, the more likely that artist is to be able to fashion it into something original. But the process is a slow one, requiring patience. As William Blake put it, "Eternity is in love with the productions of time." And so am I, when they sound like Joni Mitchell, Pat Metheny and Jaco Pastorius playing "In France They Kiss on Main Street": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7MCf7Ga3wc