Standards 3 and 9 of the National Standards for Music Education charge teachers to teach improvisation as well as music of diverse cultures. Jazz is a musical style that is perfect to cover both content areas. Until now, however, jazz repertoire and improvisation have not played a major role in the education of string students. One reason is that many string orchestra directors--unless they are also band directors--have had very little exposure to jazz. In this article, the author discusses philosophical issues and logistics, and concepts of jazz instruction. He also discusses teaching improvisation, as well as selecting ensemble repertoire and finding ensemble role models. (Contains 4 figures, 21 online resources and 17 resources.)