The Intervallistic Concept is a comprehensive instructional manual written by legendary jazz saxophonist Eddie Harris. Originally published to codify his unique harmonic and technical approach to improvisation, the book is a foundational text for musicians looking to break away from traditional scalar and chord-based soloing. Core Philosophy and Structure
The work is typically presented as a three-volume set, often found today in a single compiled edition:
Volume 1 (Foundations): Covers the basic mechanics of intervallic playing, focusing on moving beyond simple major and minor scales into wider, more athletic melodic leaps.
Volume 2 (Advanced Techniques): Expands on these concepts with complex applications, including altissimo playing, chord substitutions, and syncopated sequences.
Volume 3 (Composition & Application): Provides practical examples of solos and original compositions that utilize the intervallic system. Key Technical Focus Areas
Harris’s manual is famous for its rigorous and often physically demanding exercises. Key topics include:
Intervallic Leaps: Moving in fourths, fifths, and larger "skips" to create modern, angular melodies.
Harmonic Sophistication: Extensive studies on polychords, superimposed triads, and unconventional modulations.
Instrumental Mastery: While popular among saxophonists, it is designed for all single-line wind instruments (flute, trumpet, etc.) and is widely used by guitarists and pianists for developing new harmonic vocabulary. "Eddieisms"
A distinct feature of the book is the inclusion of "Eddieisms"—witty, philosophical quotes from Harris about the nature of music. These insights reflect his belief that there are "no wrong notes, only wrong connections," encouraging players to focus on inflection and the "beauty of life" in sound rather than strict academic rules. Where to Find it
The manual is available through specialty jazz retailers such as Ejazzlines, Charles Colin Music, and Stretta Music. While archival copies are sometimes hosted on platforms like the Internet Archive, official physical and digital copies remain a staple in advanced jazz education. INTERVALLISTIC CONCEPT: Eddie Harris: - Ejazzlines.com
Intervallistic Concept by Eddie Harris is a comprehensive instructional series (often found in three volumes) designed to help instrumentalists and composers break free from traditional linear patterns and embrace an "interval-centric" mindset. Core Content & Topics
The material is structured to build technique alongside harmonic and rhythmic fluency. Key areas covered include: Stretta Music Shop Harmonic Studies
: Exercises in chord substitution, polychords, superimposed triads, and cycles. Melodic Development : Detailed focus on intervals, sequences, and modulations. Advanced Technique : Extensive studies in altissimo playing , which was a hallmark of Harris's own style.
: Specific sections dedicated to syncopation and creative rhythmic resources. Philosophy
: Includes Harris's unique outlook on improvisation and music theory, famously referred to as "Eddieisms". Jamey Aebersold Jazz The "Eddieisms" Philosophy
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
Intervallistic Concept By Eddie Harris - Jamey Aebersold Jazz
While I cannot directly send or download a PDF file to you, I can point you exactly to where you can find it and provide a comprehensive breakdown of the "Eddie Harris Intervallistic Concept" so you can start using it right away.
Eddie Harris was not just a legendary jazz saxophonist (famous for Exodus and his electric Varitone sax), but also a brilliant musical theorist. He disliked the rigid, academic way scales and modes were being taught, so he developed the Intervallistic Concept to focus on the space between notes rather than the notes themselves.
Here is how you can find the PDF, followed by a summary of how the concept works.
If you can find the PDF, treasure it. It contains handwritten diagrams, specific "Harris Licks" mapped out by interval number, and a unique humor (Harris claimed the concept came to him in a dream about a clock).
However, if you cannot find the PDF, you are not lost. You now understand the concept:
Eddie Harris wanted musicians to stop thinking about keys and start thinking about distances. Whether you find the original PDF or build your own intervallic system, the goal is the same: to free your sound from the tyranny of the scale.
Search smart, practice harder, and play intervalistically.
Keywords: eddie harris intervallistic concept pdf, eddie harris jazz theory, triadic chromaticism, symmetrical improvisation, chromatic jazz exercises, outside playing techniques.
The Intervallistic Concept is a comprehensive instructional series by legendary jazz saxophonist and innovator Eddie Harris
. Designed for all single-line instruments (saxophone, trumpet, flute, etc.), the method moves beyond traditional chord-scale approaches to focus on the mathematical and creative use of intervals. Overview of the Method
The concept is structured to help musicians develop a "piano-style" approach on monophonic instruments, emphasizing leaps and non-linear melodic movements over standard stepwise scales. It is often sold as a three-volume collection or a single massive edition (approximately 192 to 321 pages depending on the publisher). Volume I (Foundations):
Covers basic interval exercises and foundational concepts to help players internalize and "hear" various leaps. Volume II (Advanced Techniques):
Introduces complex applications such as superimposing intervals, polytonality, and asymmetrical meters. Volume III (Application):
Provides examples of compositions and solos showing how to apply these intervallic ideas across genres like blues, funk, and Latin jazz. Key Technical Focus Areas eddie harris intervallistic concept pdf
The book provides a "thorough workout" for both technical and harmonic resources, featuring hundreds of studies on: Advanced Harmony: Chord substitutions, polychords, and superimposed triads. Technical Mastery: Altissimo playing, modulations, sequences, and cycles. Rhythmic Precision: Complex syncopation and rhythmic variations. Stretta Music Unique Features Eddie Harris Intervallistic Concept Pdf - Facebook
The core material for Eddie Harris's "intervallistic concept" is documented in his multi-volume instructional book series. The Intervallistic Concept Books
The primary "piece" or resource you are looking for is titled " The Intervallistic Concept ", published by Charles Colin Music Publications.
Structure: It is a thorough 3-volume edition covering advanced topics like intervals, altissimo playing, chord substitution, and superimposed triads.
Purpose: Harris designed the series to teach instrumentalists how to play and improvise using wide, non-standard interval jumps, which became his signature sound. Related Material: "Skips"
If you are looking for a specific technical "piece" or sub-book from the concept, you may be thinking of " Skips: For the Advanced Saxophonist " (1972).
Focus: This is a smaller, portable "technic book" specifically emphasizing wide interval passages—or "skips"—to keep professional players in top condition. Availability : A digital preview or PDF of " " is often hosted on platforms like Scribd. Where to Find the PDF/Book
Official Purchase: Physical and digital versions are available through major jazz sheet music retailers like Jamey Aebersold Jazz and Sheet Music Plus.
Digital Previews: You can often find study excerpts or partial PDF uploads on academic or document-sharing sites like Sheet Music Library or Scribd. Eddie Harris - Skips | PDF - Scribd
The Intervallistic Concept by jazz legend Eddie Harris is a monumental pedagogical work designed to break the linear habits of improvisers. This method focuses on wide-interval jumps and non-traditional melodic paths to expand a musician's harmonic and technical range. Overview of the Method
Harris’s approach challenges the standard "bebop" style, which typically relies on scale-wise, linear movement. Instead, his concept emphasizes:
Intervalic Phrases: Melodic patterns built on skips and leaps rather than scalar steps.
Logical Progression: Materials are presented in a straightforward way to develop both improvisational and compositional skills.
Technical Versatility: Designed primarily for single-line wind instruments but applicable to any soloist looking to modernize their sound. Key Components and Exercises
The book (often sold as a three-volume collection) contains hundreds of studies covering a vast range of advanced jazz theory:
Altissimo Mastery: Extensive exercises to increase the range of the saxophone.
Harmonic Superimposition: Lessons on polychords, superimposed triads, and chord substitutions.
Rhythmic Innovation: Deep dives into syncopation and complex rhythmic sequences.
Structural Devices: Use of cycles, modulations, and interval-based sequences to create unexpected melodic curves. The Philosophy of "Eddieisms"
The text is peppered with Harris's unique musical philosophies, which encourage a mindset of creative freedom:
On Mistakes: "There are no wrong intervals if played in succession" and "no wrong chords, only wrong progressions".
On Musical Beauty: Harris viewed musical sounds as a universal language that should not be overly "chastised" or restricted by rigid categorization. Access and Availability
Physical Editions: The book is available through specialized music publishers like Charles Colin Music and Jamey Aebersold Jazz.
Pricing: The complete 321-page version is typically priced around $90.00.
Digital Copies: While "PDF" is a frequent search term, the book remains under copyright. Official digital versions are rare, and users are encouraged to purchase from EddieHarris.com to support his estate.
If you'd like to dive deeper into a specific part of the method: Wide-interval leap exercises (e.g., fourths and fifths) Altissimo fingerings and techniques Chord substitution theories used in his compositions Tell me which area to focus on for your next section. INTERVALLISTIC CONCEPT: Eddie Harris: - Ejazzlines.com
Eddie Harris's The Intervallistic Concept is a comprehensive instructional method designed to expand the harmonic and rhythmic vocabulary of improvisers and composers. Originally written for saxophone but applicable to all single-line wind instruments, the book focuses on non-traditional melodic movement and advanced technical facility. Core Philosophical Principles
Harris based the method on a set of "Eddieisms" that encourage musical freedom and the belief that there are no "wrong" choices if played with the right intention: Charles Colin Music Succession over Correction : "There are no wrong intervals if played in succession". Connection & Inflection
: Harris emphasized that "wrong" notes or chords are actually just issues of connection, progression, or inflection. Music as Life
: He viewed musical sounds as a universal language that should be felt rather than overly over-analyzed or "chastised". Charles Colin Music Method Structure and Content
The book (often found as a 192-page spiral-bound edition or a multi-volume 321-page version) covers a wide array of technical and creative studies: Jamey Aebersold Jazz Interval Studies Break out of diatonic scales
: Exercises focusing on wide leaps and non-diatonic interval patterns to break away from standard scalar playing. Harmonic Expansion
: Includes hundreds of studies on chord substitution, polychords, superimposed triads, and modern cycles. Rhythmic Resources : Lessons on advanced syncopation and rhythmic modulations. Altissimo Mastery
: Harris provides numerous fingerings and exercises for the saxophone's altissimo range (e.g., specific fingerings for high
) to help players navigate the upper register with the same ease as the standard range. Practical Application Versatility
: While written by a saxophonist, the logic is "straightforward" and can be applied by flute, clarinet, trumpet, and trombone players, as well as pianists and guitarists. Flexibility
: The material is designed to be practiced either systematically from start to finish or randomly to spark immediate creativity. The book is published by Charles Colin Music Publications and is available through retailers like Jamey Aebersold Jazz EddieHarris.com specific interval exercise from the book or more information on his altissimo fingering charts Eddie Harris Intervallistic Concept Pdf - Facebook
The Intervallistic Concept by Eddie Harris is more than just a technique book; it is a revolutionary philosophy of sound that redefined the boundaries of modern jazz improvisation. Spanning nearly 200 pages (and often found in a massive 3-volume compilation), this method provides wind players—particularly saxophonists—with a rigorous framework for navigating complex harmony through wide, non-linear intervals rather than standard scalar patterns. The Core Philosophy: "No Wrong Intervals"
Eddie Harris’s approach was built on the belief that musical beauty lies in the connection between sounds rather than the notes themselves. His famous "Eddieisms" from the book highlight this mindset: "There are no wrong intervals if played in succession." "There are no wrong chords, only wrong progressions." "There are no wrong notes, only wrong connections."
By shifting the focus from "right" notes to the logic of movement, Harris empowered musicians to break free from the "be-bop" clichés of the era. Key Exercises and Content
The Intervallistic Concept is known for being extremely challenging, demanding high levels of technical facility and theoretical knowledge. Most versions of the Intervallistic Concept at Charles Colin Music or Jamey Aebersold Jazz cover:
Altissimo Mastery: Harris was a pioneer of the altissimo register, and the book includes dozens of studies for extending the saxophone’s range.
Superimposed Triads & Polychords: Exercises for playing one chord structure over a different bass note to create "outside" sounds.
Cycles and Modulations: Systematic patterns that move through all 12 keys, forcing the player to internalize wide leaps (4ths, 5ths, 7ths) as fluently as scales.
Syncopation & Rhythmic Freedom: Complex rhythmic sequences designed to make intervals feel like "fresh expressions" rather than static patterns. Impact on Modern Jazz
Harris's most famous composition, "Freedom Jazz Dance," is the ultimate practical application of this concept. Built primarily on intervals of a fourth, the tune challenged the standard bebop approach of "running up and down scales" and became a staple of modern jazz after being recorded by Miles Davis . Where to Find the Book
While many search for an "Eddie Harris Intervallistic Concept PDF," the work remains a copyrighted publication. Physical copies and legitimate digital versions are typically available through:
Eddie Harris Official Site: Offers the complete method for all single-line wind instruments.
Charles Colin Publications: The primary publisher for the saxophone-specific editions.
Sheet Music Plus : A reliable source for the spiral-bound 3-volume sets.
Intervallistic Concept By Eddie Harris - Jamey Aebersold Jazz
Packed with hundreds of studies in altissimo playing, intervals, syncopation, chord substitution, polychords, superimposed triads, Jamey Aebersold Jazz
Elias was a technical wizard on the tenor sax, but he felt trapped. He could run scales until the pads of his fingers bled, but his solos felt like predictable lines on a map. He’d heard the legends of Eddie Harris—the man who didn't just play jazz, but electrified it. People called Harris a "mad scientist" for his wide-interval leaps that defied the physics of the reed.
He double-tapped the screen. The PDF opened to a dizzying array of Fourth-based patterns and geometric jumps.
"Don't play the notes," a voice seemed to echo from the grain of the 1970s scans. "Play the space between them."
Elias blew a low Bb, then tried to snap up a perfect eleventh, just as the manual dictated. The note cracked. It sounded like a bird hitting a window. He tried again. And again. For three hours, the room was filled with the sound of "intentional dissonance."
Around midnight, something shifted. His fingers stopped thinking in "do-re-mi" and started thinking in "here-to-there." He began to see the fretboard of his mind not as a ladder, but as a series of portals. He played a lick that bypassed the melodic "safety" of the scale, jumping from a low resonant growl to a shimmering altissimo skip.
It was angular. It was jagged. It was exactly what Eddie Harris had promised—a way to break the circular handcuffs of traditional bebop.
Elias looked at the PDF one last time before turning off the screen. He didn't need the digital map anymore. He had finally learned how to jump.
Eddie Harris always carried a notebook the size of a cassette case. It was worn at the corners, the pages soft from a thousand late-night fingers tracing figures, arrows, and shorthand that meant something only to him. Musicians called it eccentric; scholars called it inscrutable. To Eddie, it was a map.
He wrote the Intervallistic Concept on a rainy Tuesday when the city smelled of wet saxophone. It began as a single line: intervals are not merely distances but conversations. From that seed sprouted diagrams where whole tones leaned toward semitones like old friends, where augmented fourths argued with minor seconds, each interval given a personality and a place in a grammar that could bend time in a solo.
Word spread in whispers. Some claimed the concept could turn any mechanical run into speech. One drummer said it let him hear melody in his left foot. A pianist swore the charts taught her to color chords like stained glass. Eddie laughed and kept writing, loving the way a pattern revealed a new route through a solo the way a city alley revealed a mural at its end. Eddie Harris wanted musicians to stop thinking about
Then the PDF happened.
Eddie digitized the notebook because he wanted the Intervallistic Concept to be portable, searchable, eternal. He scanned pages at midnight, refining scans into a single PDF that pulsed with annotations: margin notes in green, tempo sketches in blue, a page where he'd taped a concert ticket and labeled it "Proof." He uploaded it to a small academic server run by a friend and sent a single email linking to the file: for collaborators only, he wrote.
The link leaked.
At first it was harmless—students downloading, a few comments in online forums debating a lesson. Then musicians from distant cities began quoting Eddie in interviews, using his interval-dialogue to structure entire sets. A producer remixed a track with an Intervallistic bassline and turned Eddie's diagrams into synth arpeggios. The PDF circulated like a rumor, copied and recopied until pixels blurred and the odd margin note acquired a footnote no one had ever written.
Eddie watched the spread with something like pride and something like alarm. His concept was being bent in ways he hadn’t intended—intervals traded like merchandise, hooks carved out of conversations. He could have chased the copies down, but he remembered nights of improvisation when not knowing what would come next was the point. Instead, he began to annotate again.
New pages appeared at the end of the PDF: clarifications, counterexamples, playful traps. “Beware the Thematic Octave,” he scrawled. “Not every interval wants to speak. Some prefer silence.” He added exercises—small, mischievous prompts that required reading between lines, instructions that could only be solved by listening. The concept became less a manual and more a living test.
People adapted. Some mastered the grammar and published treatises that read like architecture. Others used the PDF as a starting point for new languages—saxophonists who tuned to micro-intervals, electronic artists who routed intervals into LFOs until resonances formed landscapes. The Intervallistic Concept had become a shared dialect.
Years later, a graduate student named Mara found an older scan—one missing Eddie’s last pages. She contacted him from a city three time zones away, saying she’d been haunted by a half-remembered diagram. Eddie invited her over for coffee and an old tape he’d labeled “Practice, 2 AM.” They played through the diagrams, arguing gently about a diminished chord that should have been louder, about whether silence counts as rest or statement. Mara recorded their session and, with Eddie’s blessing, added her notes to the PDF: footnotes that were themselves questions.
The PDF no longer had a single author. Its margins read like a conversation across time: a saxophonist in a basement, a classical theorist in a university office, a young producer in a studio with LED lights. Each added a twist, an interpretation, a refusal to let the concept fossilize. Eddie liked that—his intervals had always been about exchange.
On a quiet evening, he opened the notebook-sized PDF and found, tucked between two pages, a photograph of a mural: a wall painted with concentric intervals, colors bending into one another. Someone had photographed it outside a subway and uploaded it. Beneath the image, a single comment: "We played it here."
Eddie smiled. The Intervallistic Concept had become less a doctrine than a gathering. It existed now in the scans and the margins, in the hum of a rehearsal room and the crackle of an old recording, in the way two players could meet and find a sentence in sound. The PDF was only paper and pixels—yet it had done what music does best: brought people into the same conversation.
He closed his laptop and reached for his saxophone. The city outside murmured intervals of its own—horns, footsteps, the distant sigh of a train. Eddie leaned into the hum and answered, letting each interval speak its line, not as a distance but as a friend returned.
—
Intervallistic Concept " by Eddie Harris is a comprehensive three-volume pedagogical work that revolutionized how wind players approach improvisation
. Below is an essay exploring the core principles and impact of this method.
The Architecture of Modern Jazz: Exploring Eddie Harris’s Intervallistic Concept
In the landscape of 20th-century jazz, few figures bridged the gap between commercial success and avant-garde experimentation as seamlessly as Eddie Harris. While often celebrated for his hits like "Exodus" or "Listen Here," Harris’s deepest contribution to the academic and practical study of music lies in his seminal work,
The Intervallistic Concept for All Single Line Wind Instruments
. This 321-page treatise offers a radical departure from traditional scale-based improvisation, proposing instead a framework built on the geometric and mathematical relationships of intervals. A Departure from Scalar Thinking
Traditional jazz pedagogy often prioritizes "running the scales"—matching specific modes to chord changes. Harris’s "Intervallistic Concept" challenges this by focusing on intervals as the primary building blocks of melody. He famously posited that "there are no wrong intervals if played in succession," suggesting that any note can function within a harmonic context if the intervallic logic remains consistent. This philosophy encourages musicians to think in wide leaps—fourths, fifths, and beyond—rather than stepwise motion, a technique central to his masterpiece "Freedom Jazz Dance". Structural Breakdown of the Method
The concept is traditionally divided into three volumes, each advancing in complexity: Volume I: Foundations:
Focuses on the basics of intervallic patterns and their application to standard harmonic progressions. It introduces students to "superimposed triads" and basic "intervallic cycles". Volume II: Advanced Intricacies:
Moves into polytonality and asymmetrical meters. Harris uses this section to explain how a single-line instrument can imply complex chords through carefully chosen intervals. Volume III: Stylistic Application:
Bridges theory and performance, demonstrating how these concepts apply to blues, Latin, and funk. This volume emphasizes rhythmic variations and melodic development across diverse genres. Technical Mastery and "Eddieisms"
Intervallistic Concept By Eddie Harris - Jamey Aebersold Jazz
Here’s a helpful feature summary of what that concept generally entails, based on references from his educational materials (like his book Intervallistic Concept for the Saxophone):
Most jazz education is scalar or chord-tone based. The Intervallistic Concept frees you from "correct notes" and trains your ear to hear distance, which is how many avant-garde players (Ornette Coleman, Dewey Redman, even later Coltrane) think. It’s particularly useful for:
This is the signature technique.
If you are waiting to get the PDF, here is the core philosophy of what Harris was teaching.
The Problem with Traditional Scale Practice: Harris observed that when musicians practice scales (playing Dorian, Mixolydian, etc.), their solos end up sounding like "scale exercises." The brain gets stuck dictating the next note in a sequence (1-2-3-4-5), rather than playing what the ear actually wants to hear.
The Intervallistic Solution: Instead of thinking about scales, Harris argued that you should think about intervals (the distance between notes).
Harris wanted musicians to practice manipulating intervals. For example, if you are playing a melody and the next note you hear in your head is a Perfect 5th away, you should be able to jump that 5th flawlessly, regardless of what key you are in or what scale the chord chart says you are supposed to be playing.
The official text of this concept was published by Hal Leonard Corporation.