My wife plays flute and piano. She was taught using classical music. Jazz is foreign to her. Although she reads well, she struggles with the jazz rhythms. She says she can't get the right feeling for it. That's the issue in a nutshell. To me, there's more to it than just "swing". There's a lot of syncopation and playing on the upbeat. If you're playing from a chart, you'll see a lot of subtle changes between bars. Of course, that's what makes it so interesting. Get whatever type of drum machine/metronome you want, but I think that she would benefit just as much by listening to a lot of piano jazz. Pretty soon those "different" rhythmn patterns will begin to sink in. I would also suggest some playalong cd's. They have worked pretty well for me on trumpet and it's way more fun learning by playing along than reading a book, too.FWIW

stan

Cornet Curmudgeon