Jazz for aficionados

Hi Orpheus - I am not "cleverly evading" anything.  You are either willfully misunderstanding, or refusing to understand, however you like, what Frogman and I have said.  As for me, I did not say that "I" or "you" have to practice improvisation.  I said that ANYONE has to practice it.  All of those jazz greats you have mentioned spent enormous amounts of time practicing improvisation, just like anyone has to practice any activity to get that good at it - this is what we have been trying to get through to you.  And they continue to practice it throughout their entire career - just like, for example, a Kobe Bryant works on all his moves every day - he doesn't always know which one of them he is going to whip out at any given time in the real game - he often improvises that on the court, in the moment.  But he can only do that because he has practiced it all over and over and over and over, and he is thinking in the moment about what he is going to do.  Same with a jazz improviser.  What they are doing in performance is not random in any way, shape, or form.  It is very consciously thought out, in the moment, based on all the work they have done.  Spontaneous?  Yes.  Thoughtless?  No.  It is a process they constantly work on - how do you think they got so good at it, and continued to get better?  Work! Effort!  Practice!   Did they take some days off sometimes?  Yes!  I myself have taken an entire month off the instrument several times during the summer vacation, when my face really needed the break (though it takes at least a couple of weeks after that for a brass player like me to get back into shape again, so that's hard to find time to do). I believe that you never heard your friend practicing, as in actually playing his instrument in your apartment, that summer.  But you are fooling yourself if you think he never did any kind of practice.  For one example, a large part of any musician's practice is mental, and this would be especially true of an improviser - they are constantly thinking about things they could try, and how they would work out in a given context (you yourself brought up the concept of things they wished they could do, and I tried to explain a couple of things that could be meant by that without knowing the actual quotes).  I guarantee your friend was doing some of that that summer, even if you never actually heard him play a note.  There are many things one can and does practice without the instrument, especially when they involve thinking about musical ideas - you often do not need to physically play to be able to work them out in your head.  But since you don't want to/refuse to speak that language, you cannot truly understand this, and I honestly don't know how I can explain it any better given that.  Perhaps Frogman could give it a stab again.  

Learsfool, who am I to believe, you or my lying eyes? How many times do I have to tell you that the man was living with me? How many jazz groups have you played with? Is it ever possible for you to say, "I don't know"? Just because you and the Frogman say a thing is so, does not mean that it is, "It ain't necessarily so".

learsfool, "There are many things one can and does practice without the instrument, especially when they involve thinking about musical ideas - you often do not need to physically play to be able to work them out in your head."

When you word something like that, "How can you be wrong"? When he was having a bowl of chili across the table from me, I could have looked at him and said "Uh huh, I caught you practicing, I know that practicing look when I see it"

Just yesterday I was explaining to a musicians contractor why I don't car pool: time to and from a job is some of my best practice time.  

Excellent explanation and post by Learsfool.

Frogman and Learsfool, an even better practice time was when he was sleeping; he could dream practice the whole performance. Why didn't I think of that. As usual, the Frogman and Learsfool are right.