Another thought:

I am a big believer in Type I Hose. In 1992, when they were first talking about the Hose, they were playing mostly Type I jams, after all...that's not to say that I don't think a jam needs to become A Thing of Its Own to be Hose. I just think that there are a LOT of purely Type I jams out there that ARE Hose. After all, the idea of the Hose was articulated when Phish was playing mostly Type I stuff. And there are tons and tons of in-the-box but magnificent jams from the early 90s. There was a lot more Type II after 93--after 8/13/93, in fact--but that was an evolution of something that was already going on. The stuff they were playing before Type II was so common was still magnificent music, where they all listened carefully to each other and the audience listened to them.

Take, say, the 3/22/93 Reba jam. It's not as mind-bending as 8/16/93, to be sure. It stays close to the chords and rhythms you'd expect from a Reba jam. But everyone is listening, and respond to each others' playing, adding little wrinkles, coming up with little melodic variations, rhythmic stutter steps, and creative little ideas that create something new and beautiful. It's not one of those big, raging, explosive bliss jams. It's quiet, with little moments of humor and gentle conversation between the band members and the AUDIENCE, before the band builds to a lovely, lilting climix. But to MY ears--and I bet to Trey's too, based on what he says before starting up Gamehendge in the second set--there's something going on there between band and audience that's connected and wonderufl.

IMO you can even find "hose" in music that's basically entirely composed: check the "jam" charts for songs like Fluffhead, Esther, or Divided Sky.

The thing about Carlos's remark is that it so perfectly captures what PHISH was. Not every improvisational band can tap into the Hose. There is amazing improvised music that's just a soloist playing over skilled backers. There's something about the dynamic of a Phish show that you can sometimes pick up on when you listen: four guys up there, LISTENING to each other, reacting to what the others play JOYFULLY...and then LISTENING to the audience too, and reacting to them. And then sometimes, the audience listens attentively to them in turn. There is something AMAZING about the Phish crowd at its best, erupting in applause for an improvised key change deep into a jam well after any song has been played.

There's something so wonderfully weird and special and uniquely unique about Phish. HOSE is as good a term for it as any.