4. "Big Band jazz was heavily composed..." In response to In response to 2
...including written parts for each musician. Sure, they took improvised solos but so does rock/soul/funk-musicians. Since big band was very popular and in many ways the "peak" of "real" jazz as a commercial form of music not to mention the first things that comes to mind when people say "jazz" for many people of the older generations (I guess they are dying out now though), I'm not sure it's that simple...