Part 4, you ask? But where are Parts 1, 2, and 3. Answer: Way way back five years to Episodes 52 to 54.

The goal? To get a greater sense of the difference between a jazz solo that is considered *great* versus solos that are just ‘good’ (and sometimes not even that).

I reach out to ‘experts’ to get some opinions—and I play some of that music with those recommended solos.

This episode there are only seven tracks—and two of them are so long that I can’t play the whole thing. But enough to get a sense of the recommended solo and its context. No jazz solo really exists outside it’s context—which includes the ‘head’ (or main melody), the harmony, and the solo that other musicians play.

You’ll hear raved about solos by Paul Gonsalves, Frank Rosolino, Mike Murley, Herbie Hancock, Pat Metheny, Kevin Turcotte, and, of course, Louis Armstrong. There are other solos too—and some of them you might like even better than those ones the experts are talking about.

And in the next two weeks—two more episodes. Then I’ll go back into the archives and reprise the first three episodes.