Take one page—just the "Table of Perfect 4ths" (Page 12 in the patched version). Play nothing but Perfect 4ths for 10 minutes over a blues backing track. You will sound strange, then interesting, then finally, like Eddie Harris.
While I couldn't access a specific PDF document on this topic, I hope this report provides a helpful overview of Eddie Harris's intervallic concept and its ongoing influence on jazz music.
For years, physical copies of the original 1970s Intervallistic Concept book (published by Ebony Productions, later by Third Eye Publishing) have been Holy Grail items, fetching hundreds of dollars on auction sites. The few available PDF scans were often nearly useless—riddled with missing pages, illegible fingering charts, and OCR errors that mangled Harris’s unique symbology. That has changed with the release (or leak, depending on your perspective) of the , a meticulously restored digital edition that finally allows us to evaluate Harris’s system on its own radical terms.
Leo opened the PDF skeptically. Most jazz theory was thick with Roman numerals and modes. But Harris’s idea was startlingly simple—almost childish. It boiled down to this: eddie harris intervallistic concept pdf patched
: In the online jazz community, "patched" versions usually refer to digital PDF scans that have been cleaned up or compiled from multiple sources because the original 1970s printings often had low-quality typesetting or missing pages. Methodology
Design features and technical details
While John Coltrane explored chromatic cycles and George Russell built the Lydian Chromatic Concept, Harris went deeper into the raw DNA of sound: His thesis was brutal in its simplicity: Chords are slow intervals; melodies are fast intervals. If you master the space between two notes, you master all music. Take one page—just the "Table of Perfect 4ths"
: The wide leaps demand absolute control over voicing, embouchure, and pinky-key agility.
Some versions include altissimo fingerings or breath marks added by educators. How to Practice It Don't try to read it front-to-back. Instead:
Packed with hundreds of studies in altissimo playing, intervals, syncopation, chord substitution, polychords, superimposed triads, Jamey Aebersold Jazz The Intervallistic Concept by Eddie Harris - Stretta Music While I couldn't access a specific PDF document
– Fundamental exercises in interval-based playing to build a new vocabulary.
Challenging book with exercises in altissimo, chord substitution, syncopation, sequences, modulations and more! Ejazzlines.com
Focuses on practical usage, providing examples of compositions and solos that utilize the intervallic concept to push melodic boundaries. Key Technical Areas