This article is about the core definition of jazz. For the magazine, see Jazz Improv (magazine).
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Jazz improvisation is the spontaneous invention of melodic solo lines or accompaniment parts in a performance of jazz music. It is one of the defining elements of jazz. Improvisation is composing on the spot, when a singer or instrumentalist invents melodies and lines over a chord progression played by rhythm section instruments (piano, guitar, double bass) and accompanied by drums. Although blues, rock, and other genres use improvisation, it is done over relatively simple chord progressions which often remain in one key (or closely related keys using the circle of fifths, such as a song in C Major modulating to G Major).
Jazz improvisation is distinguished from this approach by chordal complexity, often with one or more chord changes per bar, altered chords, extended chords, tritone substitution, unusual chords (e.g., augmented chords), and extensive use of ii–V–I progression, all of which typically move through multiple keys within a single song. However, since the release of Kind of Blue by Miles Davis, jazz improvisation has come to include modal harmony and improvisation over static key centers, while the emergence of free jazz has led to a variety of types of improvisation, such as "free blowing", in which soloists improvise freely and ignore the chord changes.
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Improvisation Jam session "Jazz" Jazz Age Jazz band Jazz drumming Jazz poetry Jazz royalty Jazz standard Jazz (word) List of jazz clubs List of jazz contrafacts...
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frequently used in jazzimprovisation. Jazz educator David Baker nicknamed these scales the "bebop scales" because they were used often by jazz artists from...
themselves jazz musicians foremost. Before Rock Steady Freddie, Ska-Jazz was just another flare of jazz without its own name. Jazzimprovisation is commonly...
most prominently the importance of improvisation. Some instrumental qualities from African music that appear in jazz (especially its drumming) include...
music, and free improvisation. Nu jazz typically ventures further into the electronic territory than does its close cousin, acid jazz. Nu jazz can be very...