The Importance of Music Theory

So my Jazz band went to CMEA a few weeks ago and were criticized pretty harshly by the judges about playing in the changes. They play the right scales and have some good rhythms, but they never outline the chord changes in their solos. All that theory that I taught them last semester didn't seem to make any sense. As they have matured as musicians and become more comfortable with their scales, they realize how important spelling out chords really is.

Next week I think we are going to be making some riffs out of ii V I changes.