Explores how musicians, both individually and collectively, learn to improvise. Chronicling musicians from their first encounters with jazz to the development of a unique improvisatory voice, Berliner demonstrates that a lifetime of preparation lies behind the skilled improviser's every note.

A landmark in jazz studies, 'Thinking in Jazz' reveals as never before how musicians, both individually and collectively, learn to improvise. Chronicling leading musicians from their first encounters with jazz to the development of a unique improvisatory voice.