Originally Posted By: Mark Hayes
Originally Posted By: Gordon Scott
A core part of jazz is call and response, where two or more musicians have a sort of conversation in music. One plays a phrase, another replies to it, maybe identical, maybe altered a little, maybe inverted, maybe a different melody but an identical rhythm. That perhaps is pretty much the essence of counterpoint.


But this effectively defines counterpoint as varying a theme. If you reduce the band to one and solo over a repeated passage, is that "counterpoint"?


I did say "two or more musicians ... sort of conversation". If it's a strict case of each purely takes their turn, then it's not counterpoint; and likewise if a a single monophonic instrument player doing a solo over just a base harmony, then it's not counterpoint.

But when musicians are playing different melodies or variations of a melody with/against each other, then typically it's counterpoint.

THis is a long video aimed a schools, but it opens with a good example of those interactions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fw33n2Mpqfk

Jazz relative beginner, starting at a much older age than was helpful.
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