What defines jazz, and is it possible to teach it? Although jazz has many different definitions, improvisation consistently remains a core characteristic. Teaching a student jazz improvisation typically followed the master-apprentice model, in which students learned through private lessons with a mentor practitioner. Currently, jazz education primarily takes place at universities, where students study the masters through the memorization and analysis of written transcriptions. This process involves aurally learning an improvisation and subsequently documenting the melody, harmony, and rhythm in musical notation. A challenge for college jazz improvisation teachers is selecting transcriptions that meet both instructional goals and students' individual preferences. An additional challenge is finding material that addresses the physical limitations of the various instruments used in a jazz improvisation class. This study examines how jazz improvisation students’ perceptions of the use of Dig That Lick (DTL) as a corpus-analysis tool to improve their jazz improvisational language, while retaining the ability to choose their own jazz vocabulary, can inform a solution to these issues. These issues encompass ergonomic and instrumental constraints that impede the implementation of a universal transcription approach as determined by the instructor. Another problem is that students' preference for solo material may impede learning if they dislike the transcription selected by the instructor, thereby preventing them from grasping a particular concept. The study involved eight jazz improvisation students with moderate improvisation skills who had taken at least one traditional jazz improvisation class or were skilled at improvising. These participants’ ages ranged from 19 to 47 years old. The primary research question was: How do jazz improvisation students describe their experiences using corpus tools to learn jazz language? The researcher employed a hermeneutic-phenomenological approach in interviewing and a dialogical-phenomenological method in data analysis. The researcher identified four themes from the participants’ experiences: (a) processes, (b) guidance needed, (c) supporting qualities, and (d) non-supporting qualities. The themes were organized into two categories: those that support student learning and those that support the learning environment. After participating in eight two-hour workshops and completing eight one-hour assignments, participants took part in two 60-minute interviews conducted via password-protected Zoom meetings. The findings demonstrated that DTL facilitates various forms of learning among participants, and the participants acknowledged that DTL is a significant tool for acquiring jazz language. The findings could assist jazz educators in evaluating the feasibility of incorporating corpus tools into their curriculum while also empowering students.