2 person gig: Opinions needed

[Iv@N]

I wasn't sure where to post this. Mods, feel free to move it if needed.

A friend of mine who's still in high school was offered to play at an award ceremony for school. He asked if I wanted to play and I accepted.
We've got about an hour to play and it'll be mostly jazz standards, but the thing is that it's just us 2.

This is my question: Should I solo, too? Should I just stick to walking? Walking + chords while he solos?

What do you guys think?

Thanks in advance,
Ivan

[singlemalt]

A conversation is more interesting than one person doing all the talking. Take as many choruses as you can carry comfortably. Give each other solid backing. Look like you are having fun.

[Brad Johnson]

Sure, solo if you're comfortable with it. Soloing doesn't have to be extravagant, you could just frame the melody or even just play around with an idea.

When he's soloing you should probably play a support role unless you're up to playing off what he's doing AND he's okay with you doing that. I know a guy who gets upset if people do anything that might draw attention while he's soloing. He's a lot of fun to play with

[Iv@N]

Thanks for the replies so far. I forgot to add that he'll play guitar.

[hbarcat]

I'm in a classic rock trio and often play gigs as a duo with just the guitarist. This opens up a lot of room for both of us and it's a lot of fun to experiment in filling up some of the empty space.

I find that adding 5ths and octaves on top of the note I'm playing at the time (not necessarily the root) is very effective and doesn't detract from the guitarist. I especially do this when the guitar is playing a lead part and it makes the bass much like a rhythm guitar. I do very few leads on bass when playing as a duo and I keep them short and simple. Your mileage may vary. But when I am playing higher up on the neck the guitarist will play low roots to kind of fill out the bottom end.

It helps that we've played together for 10 years and that he's an excellent musician who also plays bass, drums and keys and knows how all instruments fit together to make a band.