my director already cued me, on bari, to improv. I had no idea what I was doing, there were no chord changes written in and it was just blank space in which the soloist just plays. So don't "Fries" like I did (My director's name is Mr. Fries, which is pronounced the same way as Freeze.). Just relax and just play simple rhythms that sound good.

Well, first off,learn your chords and chord stucture somewhat. Start with a simple b flat blues and your mixolydians. Get Maiden Voyage be jamie Abersold, greaet book and it will help alot with progressions and such. If you can, try to be able to pick up chords by ear, then you wont need to worry about reading them, not having them, and its eaier to get back in if u get lost. If your school has a music theory class, this is a great place to learn all of this stuff, and get credit for it. But most of all, mak sure that you mak it known that you want to solo. In rehersals, if the director asks for soloists, dont not stand up and play because you dont think your good enough yet or what not, just get up and do it. The only way to learn to solo is to stand up in front of people and do it. I remember my first time was in front of judges at a jazz fest our school went to a few years back... Follow the music alittle to. For the first couple times, you can usully get away with just follow the key signiture and not worrying about changes, and try to incorperate some of the licks from the song into your solo, it will tie everything together alittle bit more and make it easier to come up with stuff when your new at it. Also, the best thingthat you can do, is LISTEN TO THE PROS!! Go out right now, and find all the sax players you can, and just listen to them, for hours, youll get great ideas, and inspiration...and then tie urself into your music..remember that music is from the soul, and soloing if done righjt will reflect that

"master your instrument, master the music, then forget all that shit and just play.." - charlie parker