When playing orchestral jazz compositions, the improviser has to use all of his or her faculties to weave a statement into the context that the composer created. This is why all jazz musicians are composers. Jazz improvisers do not necessarily sit down with pen in hand and write out their solos on a piece of score paper, but those solos nonetheless require the same discipline as the written works of a composer. One of the great pleasures to be found in listening to players who are both great composers and soloists, such as Benny Carter and Wynton Marsalis , is hearing them improvise on their own material. Indeed, there is a good case to be made that these musicians should be able to copyright their solos as original compositions or variations.
Improvisation is a big part of everyday life.
We improvise in the way we get dressed, cook our meals, go to work, and speak. There is no mystery to it, and there is certainly no mystery to jazz improvisation. It is, simply put, just another way of spontaneously confronting a challenge. To hear the purest and most sublime example of jazz improvisation, listen to Louis Armstrong . Armstrong's lessons still reverberate at the core of the music.