When it comes to Jazz, my Opinion:

Two kinds of jazz. The one that I favor is when the melody is not completely lost. The second is when the melody is played and then they go off onto another journey, which could fit a number of other songs. They use scales and play against the chords.

That is why the musician I was playing asked me what song we were playing. Both songs were in the key F and had similar chord progression.

John C.