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Here's a cool quote from jazz bass player Percy Heath in regards to musicality (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ew-spMuMqK4 @ 36:29).

"You have to learn all those notes and scales and everything... that's a beautiful foundation... but then you have to spend a lifetime finding out what to leave out."

At sound check play your normal ~40% of capable volume level.

When the sound engineer asks to hear you... play at that 40% volume. The sound engineer is looking for a "balanced" sound with the rest of the band... that's what they're trying to achieve. If you play at your "all-out" level at sound check, like you're kickin' butt in a solo, you've just guaranteed no one's going to hear you all night. Your loudest volume is balanced with the band (not good for a solo!) and at your accompaniment volume nobody will know you're there if they close their eyes. continue reading...

The musicians you're playing with also want you to use more space than you're usually willing to give. Improvising with no space is a one-way conversation... you might as well just play to a jam track on stage. Leaving space gives the band the opportunity to help lead you to chord change and play supportive licks/fills that add excitement to what you're doing. Leaving space, and playing longer-held notes, also gives you the opportunely to hear more of what the band is playing. continue reading...

Simply put... use it. It, and dynamics, are the most powerful tools in regards to conveying emotion to the listener.

In my 12-hour teaching block yesterday I found myself reminding students an awful lot to use vibrato. Long notes are a no-brainer, but also use them on shorter notes, commonly a quarter note in length (one beat), or sometimes downbeat eighth notes (the eight note on the downbeat, worth 2/3 of a beat in a shuffle or swing). Vibrato is so important that I have special notation for it to remind students commonly in the first three levels of study on the site. continue reading...