As jazz improvisers we need first and foremost to develop our ability to hear music and transfer it directly to the instrument - and the faster and more accurately we can do this, the better we will play. Some people do this early, and naturally; most of us need to work at it. Singing is by far the best way into this. Bass-player Peter Ind (an early mentor and playing partner at his wonderful Hoxton club Bass Clef) often talks of playing with Charlie Parker, of his studies in New York with Lennie Tristano, and of the emphasis all the musicians of the forties and fifties put on being able to sing their melodies. "It's amazing", Peter used to tell me, "how after just a bit of work with the voice, the elusive notes seem to find their way into your fingers..."