wlrube

Books are great, but the most important thing is LISTENING TO JAZZ RECORDINGS. A lot of beginning improvisers can play scales and licks like mad but have no soul because they don't listen -- they don't dig the music. Know your major/minor scales and listen to a lot of jazz, then from there you can build up your knowledge of chord/scale theory.

Here's a short list of some good musicians to listen to:

Charlie Parker (alto sax)
Miles Davis (trumpet)
Art Blakey (drums)
Freddie Hubbard (trumpet)
Sonny Rollins (tenor sax)
Clifford Brown (trumpet)
Stan Getz (tenor sax)
Sonny Stitt (alto sax)
Bill Evans (piano)
Dexter Gordon (tenor sax)
Lee Morgan (trumpet)
Woody Shaw (trumpet)
Horace Silver (piano)