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I pretty much improvise my solo's. I can be a lick player but i'm trying to get away from that. It's good to be able to play Bebop licks out of memory but pretty much most of jazz solos are improvised. If i'm in a slump when trying to get the changes to a solo in a song to work i listen to the original solo and get ideas from it.

I work alot on reading changes and being able to play with them for solo's. Now when i learn a lick i try to learn it in all twelve keys so i can use it for a solo if it fits. That's pretty much how i solo.

i always play on the spot because it's more exciting. i don't like written out solos because it contradicts the whole concept of improv. making up a couple of licks and memorizing them is fine, but not a whole solo. plus, after your solo, if somebody asks you if you made that up just then they'll be more impressed if you did wink .

If I have a longish solo, sometimes I just start with embellishing the head for the first chorus. Then I deviate more and more until it's purely improvised.
When it's AABA, sometimes it's fun to play the head for the A's and then improvise on B for a breather. It helps introduce the improvisation, while still sounding familiar to the people unfamiliar with jazz.

I always try to start and end solos slow or lightly. I might have a very late climax, but if possible, I always try to resolve my solos as much as possible so the head comes back without much unused "momentum," I guess.

Btw, thanks to that guy who brought up Moanin' I've had it in my head since. I ended up teaching myself the head, in all twelve keys. : ) Now I can pull motifs from that whenever I want.

I don't try to. They just come up. : )

Idk. I can just not do it, but if I feel like it then I'll probably go for it.

Unless my director is really set on playing a written solo, I hate doing that. I always freak and think i'm going to mess up. That's why I like improv-- it's technically impossible to mess up!

Edit: Swing and blues. I love the sound of the sax just wailing, expressing the 'pain' of the song itself. Oh, and a little bit of latin too. I however, hate rock jazz.

There was only one song last year with room for a bari solo. ^ ^; it was funk. I'm not good at funk.

3nodding blues is my other choice. i like the way you think.