The dictionary defines meandering as moving aimlessly and idly without direction.  Does that sound like your jazz solos?  When teaching high school and even college aged students, the biggest criticism I have of their playing is what I call meandering.  If you surveyed all the jazz improvisation materials on the marketplace, you would probably be led to believe that chord scale knowledge or ii-V7 licks are the prime deficiencies in the developing jazz player.  I would disagree, observing that rambling and meandering are the most important problems to overcome. Many young players are first attracted to jazz by the sheer [...]