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Thanks for the encouragement, folks. That particular line custard, is long, but also wonderful. I had set myself the task of whistling the correct notes. Possibly too hard.
Keeping track of the old tunes is easy at the beginning, but as you make progress, it's a lot to revise. I may spend a week just reading them through.

Custard, your improvisation sounds great! You are getting those key shifts and it sounds like jazz!

Now, my improv. I hesitate to post. I exhausted my poor zoom's batteries after 9 minutes. Please don't feel obliged to listen. I'm doing ii-V-Is in:
C
F (1:20)
Bb (2:20)
Eb (3:40)
Ab (4:50 - after some LH confusion which I deleted)
G (6:30)
D (8:20 - this carried on a little longer, but the zoom gave out)

I recorded warts and all, as I feel I may as well mark as baseline for where I am. Today is the first time I did in all keys like this. I had in front of me the keys, chords and some written-out lines, but what you hear is all improvisation, not the composed lines.

My aim was to get to the quaver flow and stay there as long as possible. I did push myself with that. It felt fairly pointless while I was playing, but on listening to the recording, there are a few nice lines in among all the dross.

I'm not in any way singing a song in my head and replicating it with my fingers (or at least that happens only very very rarely). What I'm mostly thinking is this: play the scale. Play an interval larger than a tone. Ascend. Descend. Ascend and descend. Keep playing. Scale. Play some chord notes. What do you mean you don't know what chord you're on? OK, don't panic, look at the LH and do some of that. Can I take a break yet? Stick in a chromatic note, land on 5 and then take a break. Breathe.

So, obvious question: is this normal?

....

http://www.box.net/shared/r2zlfz4ycrul4bs9m0u7

Are my nerves showing?

...

On reflection, I think that offering comments on improv is above my paygrade, so I'm retiring from that aspect. I think everyone sounds great and the progress shown is very encouraging.

Not at all time, you deserve a medal for listening to the whole thing! I have learned to trust the guidance I get here.

10,

I did not listen to the whole thing but here are my 2 cents.
You're totally on the right track. You're 8ths are nice and the swing is good. There's a million things you can improve, but one can only work on one thing at a time.
I would say to start by making your lines a little shorter. But when you stop them, actually stop and let that last note ring nicely.
For example, at 2:08, you start a phrase that you end at 2:13, which is nice, then you rush to start a new one within that same second. Then it stops and restart. That can work sometimes, but for now, I'd say to play a line, end it as if you're taking a break, then come up with a new one.

You heard Dave talk about the little guy in your head. He tells you when to end and start the lines. The flow is very important, and, imho, you generally don't want to break that flow. Don't over extend your line. When it's done it's done. Soon enough, they'll get long with a nice flow.

If you're not sure what I mean, I can try and record something for you.

Keep experimenting with all those concepts, you are on the right track.

For a good example, check out Cus's post.
Very nice long un-interrupted line. You don't have to play lines that long, and Cus' is a bit more advanced because she has to switch key, but see how she has a line with a clear beginning and end. That sounds good to me.

Cus, congrats on connecting those lines.

Go ahead and do that in 6 keys for a while, maybe a couple weeks? Sounds really good.

If you feel very well in control, you can play with increasing the tempo a little bit.

Knotty, Time and 10
Thank you for your kind comments. I kept on replaying Dave's g+ lesson to me. I really wanted to push myself and it was really hard to think long lines (I hadn't improvised long lines before) let alone in 3 scales.

Knotty
I will aim to do the F maj 3 scale one @ 80 bpm. I will create the LH chord progression tonight, and if you don't mind, I would love if you would check it. Thanks !

As Knotty said, you can't be expected to know all the tunes in the book. Maybe revise just the last 3 lessons.

Thanks guys. With some shorter phrases it should be much easier.

Good morning Knotty

Would you mind checking my LH chords if you have time ?

http://www.box.net/shared/x1zp7m8ncjbtun7ehkiq

F maj 7 D G A C
F7 Eb G A D
C maj 7 E G A D
C min 6 Eb G A C
F maj 7 D G A C
F maj 7 E F A C

Thank you !

cus

Cus,

These look fine to me.

Ultimately, you want to stretch out and play long lines. But if the line stops, it stops. When you're comfortable with the short lines, push yourself and extend the flow of quavers.

This is hard to do. If you are organized, you can decide to review one of the past tunes each day. And instead of playing it, just sing it. Shouldn't take too long.

Thanks Knots, you are da bomb.

Did my 6 keys again today and it went better. I stopped talking to myself quite so manically and let some of the lines be shorter. A teensy bit more of intending to hit a note and then actually hitting it, happened. Amazingly, just playing up and down the scale gives fairly good results - with a few intervals and bits of repetition. I will do this a couple more times and then record again.

Yeah I believe that. Do you remember what 3 concepts DF said were most important? I can't recall now...
He talked about that in the first "group lesson"

I know that lesson word for word

I. Flow. 8th feel.
II. Rests. Let it breathe.
III. Where you land matters.