Packed with hundreds of studies in altissimo playing, intervals, syncopation, chord substitution, polychords, superimposed triads, Jamey Aebersold Jazz
Mastering Modern Jazz Improvisation: The Legacy of Eddie Harris and the Intervallistic Concept
The human fingers naturally prefer moving to adjacent notes. Harris’s system forces your hands and brain to break away from scalar paths.
For saxophone players, multi-instrumentalists, and advanced improvisers, finding an Eddie Harris Intervallistic Concept PDF or an original print copy is akin to discovering a holy grail of modern music theory. This article explores the philosophy behind Harris’s interval-based system, breaks down its musical architecture, and explains how you can apply these avant-garde concepts to your own practice routine. Who Was Eddie Harris? eddie harris intervallistic concept pdf
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 ):
Create a simple four-note pattern based on perfect fourths. For example, over a chord, play:
Because Harris's patterns demand massive leaps, practicing them naturally develops a flawless embouchure, exceptional air control, and fluid finger-to-tongue synchronization. It forces saxophonists to master the altissimo register and smooth out the breaks between the lower, middle, and upper registers. Packed with hundreds of studies in altissimo playing,
Traditional jazz improvisation relies heavily on scales, arpeggios, and digital patterns (like 1-2-3-5). These patterns move primarily in seconds (stepwise) or thirds (skipwise).
Play ascending fourths, but move the starting note down or up chromatically. Example: C to F, then C# to F#, then D to G, and so on. Advanced: Stack them. C - F - Bb - Eb. Exercise 2: The Angular Seventh Zig-Zag
Harris possessed an extraordinary command of the instrument's altissimo register, playing complex lines flawlessly across four octaves. This vertical and expansive command of his instrument stemmed directly from his obsession with intervals. Rather than thinking of music as a horizontal succession of notes (scales) or a vertical stack of thirds (standard chords), Harris viewed the fingerboard and the staff as a matrix of distances. What is the Intervallistic Concept? For example, over a chord, play: Because Harris's
He practices cycles of a fixed interval (e.g., ascending major 3rds: C–E–G#–C) without regard to key center. This builds "intervallic ear training" and fingerboard/vocabulary freedom.
Eddie Harris (1934–1996) was a virtuoso tenor saxophonist known for his staggering technical facility, perfect pitch, and fearless experimentation. Unlike many of his contemporaries who focused heavily on bebop scales, digital patterns, or chromatic passing tones, Harris looked at the geometry of the instrument itself. He realized that conventional jazz pedagogy over-emphasized step-wise lines (seconds and thirds), which often made improvisers sound predictable.
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