The II V I is how most phrases end. The II is the chord that starts on the second scale degree, the V is the chord that starts on the fifth scale degree, and the I is the chord that starts on the rot or the first scale degree.

Hey barimachine, when you say that good high school rhythm sections are hard to come by, what are you basing that judgement on? I happen to come from a high school where, every year for about the past fifteen years, the rhythm sec. was by far the tightest, most organized, and all around most talented sec. in the jazz band. It was the SAXES that always needed the most sectional work. As for the topic at hand, here's another theory: Are you playing along with accompaniment CDs at home, or just jamming solo? If you're playing without CDs try jamming to the chord changes for your tunes from jazz band. If you ARE using CDs, are you playing along to similar music as your jazz band, or is it a different style? That could be one reason you're having a few troubles. If you have the program, try punching in the chords of your jazz band tunes into "Band in a Box" or any similar PC program. This will help you develope your ear to those chord structures. You can also ask the rhythm sec. players to meet with you for a while before or after rehearsal to help you go over the changes. Good Luck.

How can you suck at Improvising in High School? Everyone sucks at improvising in high school. Improvising is like level 20 in the easy to follow technical level chart. I suggest you play free improve during practice but try to work out a lick that sounds good to a particular song. Then work on another. Then try to understand why they sound good, like how they promote the melody of the song. Use that understand to fill in the rest of the solo. People are really only going to care at that level that you have 2 comprehensive statements in your solo. That shows true understanding of the focus of the song. Tring to spontaniously create a solo at your level is at the level of pointless. Plus thating that route it really won't sound good. Remember there is practicing and then there is performing. Theres nothing wrong with creating something before hand that sounds improvized. Do you know what the guy ment by ii V I? Most Jazz and esp. blue tends to lead to the tonal note of a song. So if the song is in G it tends to lead to the G scale. In other words the last measure of a section will probaby be a measure where you could play every note in the G scale and sounds fine. That explains the I in the ii V I. So what is the ii V? Well in G the 5th note of the scale is D or call the Dominant. Play D and then G a couple times. See how expected G is after the D? If you were to play a measure of the D Scale (C# F#) before a measure of the G scale it would sound good to your ears. If you were to make a prase that was made of notes in the D scale for a measure followed by a measure of a prase thatwas made of notes in the G scale it would sound good. What would really sound good would be a prase made of the D scale that connected to a measure of notes in the G scale. That's basically a lick. So what's the ii? Well pretty much the subdominat or the leading measure to the Dominant that is the leading measure to the tonic. See how Jazz really just cares about how you sound in the end? In the measure before the D try a pattern or phrase that is in the key of A (G#C#F#) Now you have a measure of A, a measure of D, and then a mesure of G. That's ii V I !! Some small changes, Play I for two measures at the end becuase music is made up of even measures and for every scale play the 7 Flat. For instance, play F Naturale in the G Scale, and G Natural in the A Scale. Rule of thumb in Jazz, always play the 7 Flat. Does that help any?

It is all in your head dude. In our jazz band, we are given the choice to follow the written solo or to improv. But, we never improv on the spot. The director asks us to write our ideas down and choose. Sometimes, we have no choice. We played a song one year ago that had no written out solo for the alto. So, we had to write one out ourselves. When it comes to not being able to improv at school, you just need to get that fear of what other people may think of how you play. Come up with your idea, write it down on manuscript paper, and take it to your next practice. Above all, if you are really serious about playing music, take private lessons and you will get much needed help.