Eddie Harris Intervallistic Concept Pdf (2025)
The original book was self-published by Eddie Harris through his own company, Eboni Music (later associated with Hal Leonard briefly). Because the print run was tiny (likely fewer than 5,000 copies) and occurred before the digital age, physical copies are collector's items, often selling on eBay or Discogs for $200 to $500 .
The comprehensive method is often structured into three distinct volumes, covering a gradual progression from foundational knowledge to advanced application:
Shifting the brain from thinking "Dorian scale" to thinking "stacks of fourths and minor sevenths."
If you manage to acquire a digital PDF or a physical copy of the book, you will notice it looks vastly different from a standard book of etudes. It is a dense, rigorous workout routine. eddie harris intervallistic concept pdf
Create a simple four-note pattern based on perfect fourths. For example, over a chord, play:
Harris’s contribution with this text bridges the gap between the physical limitations of the saxophone mechanism and the limitless possibilities of melodic invention. It remains a seminal text in advanced saxophone pedagogy.
over a C tonal center) while maintaining a strict structural logic. Step 3: Use Intervallistic Enclosures The original book was self-published by Eddie Harris
The central premise of Harris's concept is the shift from linear, scale-based patterns to melodic phrases built on specific intervals. Harris believed that a "piano-style" approach to intervals could expand the harmonic and rhythmic resources of single-line instruments like the saxophone.
Harris organizes the study by intervallic distance:
: "There are no wrong intervals if played in succession" and "no wrong chords, only wrong progressions". It is a dense, rigorous workout routine
Harris outlined specific ways to practice this. You can start these today on your instrument:
The Ultimate Guide to Eddie Harris’s Intervallistic Concept: Mastering Modern Jazz Improvisation
Stop searching for the ghost PDF and start ear-training the concept. Listen to Eddie Harris’s album The Electrifying Eddie Harris (track: "Listen Here"). Notice the huge 7th leaps in the melody. Listen to Swiss Movement with Les McCann. Hear how his solo on "Cold Duck Time" jumps from the bottom of the horn to the top instantly.
A significant part of the book's content is the mindset it instills. Harris famously argued that there are no "wrong" elements in isolation, only poor connections: "There are no wrong notes, only wrong connections". "There are no wrong chords, only wrong progressions". "There are no wrong intervals if played in succession". Charles Colin Music Product Details
