ABSTRACT
Chapter 2 introduces “When the Saints Go Marching In,” the song that will be the foundation of many of the jazz improvisation exercises throughout the book and explains that it was chosen for this purpose because of its simplicity among other reasons. In addition to the song itself, the chapter presents the “Distilled Saints Melody” in which “When the Saints Go Marching In” is reduced to its melodic essence. The author has also composed a contrafact over the same chord progression which he calls “Mike’s Original Saints Melody.” Both melodies will be used in subsequent chapters in order to practice applying embellishment techniques to simple tunes. The chapter lays out the guidelines for creating simple melodies useful for this purpose, including that only harmonic chord tones should be used, four-bar phrases should be adhered to, and that the contour and highest pitches of the phrases should be carefully crafted. Finally, advanced studies are suggested, including studying recordings of the song by Louis Armstrong, Sidney Bechet, and others, and learning the song in all 12 keys.
