[Dixielandjazz] any improvising helps that i can use with my band

[Kevin Yeates]

Kirk,
 
I think Larry Walton explained it very well. While everyone has made very good points, it is still a situation of having to know where to start.  To tell someone to play what they feel is pointless if they have been reading notes all of their life. The ideas of rhythmic improv that Larry mentioned is excellent.  I have used a pentatonic scale to demonstrate this. A pentatonic scale played to quarter notes is pretty dull.  Playing the same notes, in the same order, but with a rhythmic variance such as a dotted quarter for the first note and the rest of the scale as eighth notes, gives you the famous bass line in "My Girl".  
 
"Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" and "Rock of Ages" start with the same notes in the same order.  The rhythmic patterns are different and the songs are very different.
 
There are many good books out there to learn from.  Many people like Aebersold but I personally don't.  As Larry Walton pointed out, there are many classical music ornamentations that are used in improvisation.  I didn't find that Aebersold laid them out but simply laid out the scales. It is usually easy to spot someone who has learned improvisation based scales as they tend to play scales - but if you play them fast people think you are good.  If you play the scales fast and high, people will think you are great. 
 
I believe improv should be learned not from scales but from a melodic approach. It is harder to learn but much more tasty in the end.  Unfortunately many high schools use the scale approach as it is the easiest to teach. 
 
As I asked earlier, what is your trumpet player's background?  If you tell me I can give you some thoughts on what books will aid him.  I personally found that Clark Terry's book was quite good in that it approached things from the point of view of starting with the melody, approaching the melody notes from a tone above, a tone below etc, then creating passing notes, playing the melody with only one bar improvised etc.
 
Kevin Yeates
Vancouver, Canada