Here is a rerun of the first of a 3 part series I recorded a few months ago on the jazz solo—trying to explore what makes a great one—-and why people ‘in the know’ consider them great.

I also wonder how much of those solos are spontaneous and thought of in the moment, and how many might be a repeat of something they did before.  More and more I’m becoming a ‘believer’—-that the great solos truly are ‘in the moment’, even if they are capitalizing on the brilliance of their own playing, and the playing of their mentors.

I have a list of what have been termed “Essential Solos” according to Jazz Times magazine, who asked some magazine contributors and some top musicians to give a list of 5-10 improvised jazz solos they consider to be their favourites—lines they’ve been humming for years.

The magazine described 40 of them.  In this series I presented a few of them, usually playing the whole track or at least most of the track, since those solos don’t exist in a void.

This archived program is Part 1 of the series.  You can hear the other parts by going to Episodes 53 and 54.  This episode starts with the one that had far more votes than any of the others.