ABSTRACT
Chapter 9 focuses on utilizing all the embellishment techniques learned in the previous chapters of the book, re-assembling them to sound spontaneous and improvisational. The chapter begins by referencing a 1985 Downbeat interview with jazz saxophonist Lee Konitz that presents Mr. Konitz’s 10-stage process for learning improvisation where each stage represents increasing gradients of melodic embellishment. The chapter’s first four exercises progress through an increasing density of embellishments of the “Distilled Saints Melody” and “Mike’s Original Saints Melody.” The next four exercises take the reader through the same exercises but are based on the reader’s own melody composed Chapter 4 instead of using “Mike’s Original Saints Melody” as the foundation. The chapter concludes by suggesting advanced studies where the reader completes the earlier exercises in all 12 keys.
