What is the importance of improvisation in jazz bands?
Improv is one of the most important part of jazz because it comes from the soul, not from the page. When jazz musicians learn how to improvise, they are showing that they really know what jazz is all about. Any halfway decent musician can read the notes on a page of music. It takes a real jazz player to play it with style and to dream up and perform new additions to the chart.
How should a musician improvise?
However they feel. Improvisation doesn't have any rules.
Okay, but what are some tips?
Always follow the changes. They are the backbone to the chart and keep you on track. If you get lost, just listen for the chord changes and you can find your way back into the music. And use the melody of the chart to guide you. Don't stray too far or it will sound like you're playing an entirely different song, not a cool variation to the original.
What is your improv style?
I love playing notes. So, I play a lot of them. Pentatonic scales are the key to many bebop solos. But, really, if you just listen, you can hear what to play. I like to hear what to play before I play it. Then, I use fast rhythms and lots of notes to get my musical idea across to the audience.