Cliche assignment

I've started my 2nd assignment: a composition based on a cliche. For my cliche, I'm planning on using a ii - V - I progression (AKA rhythm changes) which is popular in a lot of music, specifically bebop. The first thing I wrote was a complete circle of fifths progression, using a voicing I learned in an introduction to jazz styles and improvisation course. As usual, I'm having trouble getting the ball rolling on this. I have ideas, but none are really specific, and I think that might be the problem. I think this cliche is a good idea, but I'm having trouble turning it into reality.

One of the reasons that this progression is a good cliche is because it really sets up an expectation in the listener. After just a few chords, the audience will be able to anticipate where the next progression will go. This will set me up to change the progression into something unexpected (I'm thinking maybe to a doubly chromatic key), making it really interesting.

Instrumentation wise, I think I'm going to use a fairly standard jazz combo. We have to write for 3 instruments, which will be the piano and saxophone and one other instrument. I was initially planning to write for a drum set, but now I'm leaning more toward using a double bass (with a lot of pizzicato and walking bass lines). As for melody, there are a lot of famous tunes based on rhythm changes I can draw from, such as I got Rhythm, Serpent's Tooth, Oleo, Thrivin' from a Riff, and many others.

So with all these ideas, it sounds like composition should be pretty easy. But I'm finding otherwise. My first goal is to get something to work with: just a few bars which I can develop. I've got the harmonic progression, and some melody... maybe what I need is rhythm. (There's a pun in there somewhere... because I don't got rhythm...)