A Basic Approach to Jazz Time
The Myth

"Jazz is Syncopated"

The concept of syncopation, as a pedagogical tool, is misleading. In approaching the subject in this way, a particular classically centered mind set is assumed. This, in my opinion, serves to obscure rather than illuminate what jazz musicians who swing actually are doing in the way they conceive time.
The Classical Trap
 The reason that a lot of the music feels "syncopated" is that classically centered time assumes that time starts at the beginning of a measure of music. This concept is the "kiss of death" to anybody who is thinking about swinging. All one has to do to realize that this is not how swinging jazz musicians perceive time, is to have seen and heard guys who do swing, count in tunes.
Attitude
 The whole attitude about a song can be communicated by a good count. The other thing that you'll notice is that the time is firmly established in the mind of the player. There is a physicality associated with "time". The time is flowing before the count is stated. The time is flowing before the musicians even get on the bandstand!

There is a wealth of information in the count of say, Eddie Lockjaw Davis. They swing before they even put their horns in their mouths! The basic idea here is that if you were to turn your whole concept of time so that beat one only exists as a consequence of beat four, your approach would be more in line with what guys who groove actually feel. If you start from the premise of feeling time the way those guys do, it starts to sound less "syncopated" and more in the "slot" or "groove"!
Physicality How do I practice this?