We should all get a bit better at improvising eh?

There is a recent Fuzeau edition book "50 Rennaissance & Baroque Standards". It is a baroque Real Book. It shows you lots of basses that were used for improvising all those years ago.

To help get us started, I put some audio files up at http://www.ilike.com/artist/Bob+Smith/songs
You can find a Chaconne, La Spagna (a quite long cantus firmus) and 4 Recercadas from Ortiz. You can download the files and play along to them over and over again until you get better!

For inspiration you could listen to the "Improvisando" CD by Paolo Pandolfo and friends - an improvised album based on these popular grounds.