How is a jazz musician’s role different from that of a classical music performer?

The primary distinction between a jazz musician and a classical performer lies in their creative role during a performance.

Jazz performers are typically creative, improvising composers who act as their own authors while they play. Because improvisation is a central component of the genre, jazz musicians constantly make spontaneous decisions regarding how to attack, inflect, color, and embellish notes. In contrast, classical musicians generally focus on interpreting and expressing a pre-existing musical composition written by someone else.123

While many historical classical composers were also masters of improvisation, the modern classical tradition is largely defined by the performance of fully notated works. Conversely, jazz is characterized by a fluid approach where the performer’s idiomatic phrasing and unique instrumental sounds are so integral that they can transform even non-jazz pieces into the jazz idiom. Ultimately, while classical performance emphasizes the faithful execution of a score, jazz performance prioritizes the performer's role as an active, extemporaneous creator.412