Aside from being an interesting question, it pertains to me.
I'm a student who is taking jazz thoery and improvistaion
at my school. The instructor recommended to me (and all his
students) that they should know the equivalent of a
first year course in harmony. I'm not a music major and
have never taken a music class before this, and I'll probably
only have enough time in my schedule to take the jazz class.
On the other hand, I'm willing to study independently and
work at it.
My goal is to become proficient in improvising over basic
jazz styles and forms: blues, swing, ballads, bop etc.
I have no pretense to being a professional, I just
want to be able to play and understand the music.
How much theory should I learn in order to acheive this
goal?
Fabio