I don't know what was meant by "secret" Alice, but professional jazz players probably play more on a daily basis than musicians in any other form of music. They also have phenomenal chops (technical abilities annap) and these two things alone (but they are a LOT) gives them a comfort level with an instrument that is beyond the imagination of most. Most of the greats are also less than communicative about the how of "takin' it out" and "bringin' it back." Some do this better than others and if you want to hear someone who may be the greatest master of this, listen to Paul Desmond. His solo work is like a circle....starts simply, often very slowly, and ends the same way. In between there are long and increasingly complex and interesting flights of whimsy...each new sentence building on the last and leading to the next. Then it begins to return in the same manner and as he finishes, the last sentences are much like the first and with a period...not an exclamation point. You're left in awe, or at least my simple ass is. A totally self deprecating man, he described himself once as the "slowest, quietest, Alto player of all time" and onetime someone asked what he was "thinking" during one of his typically great, but long, solo breaks. He said, "I was thinking the other guys were getting bored."

Spaw