Being a new age /smooth jazz sort of guy I may as well get my .02 in on this one. Much of our jazz roots in the USA also came from Klezmer music as well which to a large part incorporates quite a bit of improv.

To say jazz is unstructured do what you want is incorrect though. If anything it incorporates alot more freedom within a very structured environment. It does not follow middle of the road traditional commercial structure though to varying degrees depending on who's brand of jazz we're talking about.

Count Basie and Chick Corea are both jazz, but two totally different types of jazz. If anything can be said about jazz it is that jazz has many more avenues to explore than any other genre that I know of and does not follow the strict guidlines of other forms of music. As such it causes a problem for most who have a problem thinking out of the box.

I believe there are equally great technicians across all the genres, however what I think seperates jazz players is they think about music differently. At least the ones over the years that I have hung out with, played with and have been influenced by do.

In jazz there is a constant pushing of the envelope, experimenting going out on a limb based more on sound then tradition. How much again depends on the type of jazz.

Alot of Maj7ths, 9ths and 13ths, diminished and augmented chords, different order of progressions than pop music.
Terry

------------------
jam on,
Terry http://imjazzed.homestead.com/Index.html

[This message has been edited by trtjazz (edited 01-07-2004).]