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Many players do, of course. But more often than not, especially with the more self-assured jazz players, their idea might consist of little more than a small impulse to begin. Sometimes, they might pick off something in the solo of the guy going before they step in (Lawrence Brown was especially good at this - on the other hand, he was all but fated to spend half his life trying to find new ways to play the solo for which he received the most requests, his take of "Rose of the Rio Grande," it was so popular in Ellington concerts). Blues players do it, too; most of the time, I'm liable to spin a solo off something so simple as a little vocal swoop by the singer somewhere in there. You could even hear something in the full ensemble which struck you as just so in need of an amplification, and it could be two notes or ten, that you find yourself kicking off from those notes and answering or amplifying them - and if you do it right, up from the soul, you've got yourself a hell of a statement. And you didn't really have to do anything harder than listen.

Most free jazz, I found, worked best in formats from trio to sextet. Anything more than that, and it got particularly trying, if not an outright mishmosh (like John Coltrane's Ascension). Unless you align something like a straight doubling of your basic group, as Ornette Coleman did with the double quartet lineup (two reeds, two trumpets, two basses, two drummers) he used mostly effectively for his album Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation), anything larger than a sextet is usually a guarantee for the sonic equivalent of a battlefield shootout.

Nothing by McCoy Tyner? Dizzy? Some Chick Corea early stuff was kinda nice. And Freddy Hubbard had a record or two of note. And Ella had an instrument of quality. In fact I like Ella and Louis doing Porgy and Bess. Django Reinhart? Well,anyway, you do have excellent knowledge, just tweaking you. I actually like Coltrane's My Favorite Things a lot, especially at this time of year. And Jobim and Getz. Not to mention the Don Sebetsky orchestra--just kidding. V's wife.