solo break

noun

: a short segment of a jazz piece in which the soloist plays without accompaniment and usually improvisatorially

It starts with a two-bar solo break; that is to say, everything stops, including the beat laid down by the rhythm section, leaving the soloist to make an entrance.

—Dave Gelly, Being Prez: The Life & Music of Lester Young, 2007

Word History

First Known Use

1936, in the meaning defined above

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