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Jazz Greats
Music & Film · Classic

The Art of Improvisation

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Use the arrow keys to move between letters. Press Enter or Space on the first letter of a word, then again on the last letter. Press Escape to cancel.

A few of the words

BEBOP
Bebop emerged in New York City in the early 1940s, pushing jazz toward faster tempos and complex harmonies, and demanding a new, virtuosic approach to improvisation.Find this word in the grid to read its note.
TURNAROUND
A turnaround is the short chord progression at the end of a chorus that loops the music back to the top, the seam where one improvised idea ends and the next begins.Find this word in the grid to read its note.
TRADE
Trading fours, swapping four-bar improvisations back and forth, is one of jazz's great rituals, a musical duel and a dialogue all at once.Find this word in the grid to read its note.
VAMP
When a band vamps, they repeat a simple groove or chord pattern while a soloist finds their footing, an open runway for improvisation to take off.Find this word in the grid to read its note.

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jazz improvisation word search

The Art of Improvisation: a free online word search

Jazz improvisation word search, playable online right now, where BEBOP and VAMP are waiting in the grid just as unrehearsed as the real thing.

About The Art of Improvisation

In jazz, no two performances of the same song are ever quite alike. A soloist steps to the mic, or just leans into the horn, and builds something entirely in the present tense, guided by the chord changes, the rhythm section's pulse, and sheer intuition. It's a conversation carried on in real time: the pianist comps a phrase, the drummer drops a break, and the saxophonist answers with a soaring lick that nobody wrote down and nobody could have planned.

How to play

  1. 1
    Find a word.Tap its first letter, then tap along to its last. The trail fills in and finishes itself when it spells a word. Or press the first letter and drag.
  2. 2
    Words run in straight lines.Across and down, and on the harder difficulties diagonally and backwards.
  3. 3
    It marks itself.Each word you find takes on its own soft colour on the grid and is crossed off the list.
  4. 4
    Choose a difficulty.Relaxed, Classic or Challenging set those directions and how much the word list helps, never the grid size. Tap the A buttons at the top to enlarge the letters, or pinch the grid.
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