jazz jam- call and response

["Keith Freeman" <keith.freeman@xxxxxxxxxx>]

> I have the best time (blues, country, rock) when I'm trading licks
> with another player...call and response...he copies me, I copy him. 
> Or imitating unison lines, or harmonizing on an R&B line. Builds
> excitement in the friendly challenge, and the audience responds, too.
> 
> Can I look for that opportunity in a jazz setting, too? How would I
> ask for this sporting interplay?
The closest you're likely to get to that in jazz, Robert, is trading fours with the drummer 
and the other players (4 bars soloist, 4 bars drums etc. is most common). Really good 
players, especially the pianist and drummer, will be responding to you as the soloist, 
sometimes by picking up on something you're playing, sometimes by setting it off with 
something different. 

The head, or part of it, is sometimes played in unison. Any other unison lines would 
probably be preplanned, though they can occasionally occur spontaneously, e.g. 
between the soloist and the bass.

I get the impression maybe you haven't listened to much jazz? Listening is very, very 
important. Any jazz player worth his salt has the sound of the jazz classics - or at least a 
goodly selection of them - inside his head.

- -Keith