Please Note: "Repository of Scales and Melodic Patterns (Treble Clef)" is now only available as a Digital Edition (pdf). Ordering Digital Editions will follow the same process as hard copies. Once payment is received the PDF will be emailed. Some may be large enough to require a link to a Google Doc but no Google account is required to open the link.


Click for Bass Clef Edition

"When the musician who has successfully merged the kinesthetic or physical aspects of performing music with both the semantic and syntactical bases of music the way Yusef Lateef has done professionally through recordings, live performances, composing and teaching and then contributes the results of those mergers in a book form for all musicians to freely use, analyze, create through and build upon, we must call that moment of contribution an historic one. We must thank Yusef Lateef for sharing a Part of His Search."
- Roland Wiggins

"Knowing Yusef Lateef, I can thoroughly recommend the Repository of Scales and Melodic Patterns. Be sure to check it out."
- Sonny Rollins

"I have been both inspired and edified by the work of Mr. Lateef over the years. This Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns comes as a welcome and valuable addition to the burgeoning archive of African American musical literature."
- Archie Shepp

"With the current popularity of music methods and various instruction manuals, it's very exciting to have available this thesaurus from one of the true musical giants."
- Jim Walker

"Brother Yusef is one of the warmest human beings I have had the pleasure of knowing. His creativeity and musical sincerity are exceptional. This thesaurus is a must for all musicians."
- Jimmy Heath

“Mr. Yusef Lateef's Flute Book of the Blues and The Repository of Scales and Melodic Patterns have had a profound affect upon my growth as a flutist and composer. His new book, Duets for Treble Clef Instruments, is a remarkable gift to the musical world from one of the greatest artists of the Twentieth-Century, a visionary with vast knowledge of global music.”
- James Newton

User Reviews:

"Heavy Stuff" - "The way I approached this book was twofold. On the one hand, it can be approached as a book of exercises and explorations of arcane music theory. On the other hand, one can search through it and find raw material to base a composition or improvisation upon. One may refer to the book again and again and find new ideas and new sources of inspiration.

One advantage this book has over similar works by other authors is that Dr. Lateef was, and remains, a master musician and composer, and a true musical artist with an innate sense of beauty. While this book is clearly not intended to be "musical" in the sense of offering beautiful pieces, Dr. Lateef understands the idea of musical beauty quite well, and knows how to present music theory in a way that it may serve these ideals. He clearly invites the reader to find his / her own music within the ideas he presents. And this is the mark of a great teacher."
- Dawoud Kringle

"Don't go to Slonimsky's book - Get this one!! "- "Slonimsky's Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns is clearly overestimated in jazz education because of John Coltrane's reference myth. Yusef Lateef is a jazz composer, saxophonist, and flutist who established the Olatunji Center for African Culture in Harlem with John Coltrane. It is where John Coltrane's last public performance was recorded. Yusef Lateef was menitoned on Coltrane's "Coltrane on Coltrane" essay on Downbeat (Sept 29, 1960) as follows: "I want to cover as many forms of music as I can put into a jazz context and play on my instruments. I like Eastern music; Yusef Lateef has been using this in his playing for some time." Get this book; then, you decide."
- Steve Johnson

"Be Sure To Check it Out" - "I found Eric Dolphy's Synthetic Formations (given to Yusef by Eric Dolphy in 1961) ideas on p.15 and Geometric Drawings by John Coltrane (given to Yusef by Coltrane in 1960). This thesaurus is a must for all musicians."
- Tim Andrews

"Interesting Book with lots of scale and pattern choices" - "Just as the book title says, this is a repository - a whole bunch of choices! You can learn about scales from various parts of the world and that's part of the uniqueness about this book. When you want an opportunity to hear some interesting note groupings and scales, this book provides tons of examples for you to either incorporate into your existing practice routine. You may even use this book as a way to discover sound and unlock ideas that you might never have considered before. From the non-Music School Musician's perspective, I found this book to be good for helping me think of how scales in this book sound compared to other more common scales.

After playing out of this book for a while, your ears will start to hear why Yusef Lateef wrote it and you will also learn just how much there is to learn about Music. I highly recommend this book and recommend that you play these slowly and listen closely as you learn. You will start to hear some cool things within the scales and patterns and expand your musical palette a bit each time you play out of this nice book."
- Charles Pratt III

"Buy this.. I can't praise it enough." - "This is necessary literature in every improviser's library. I have bass and treble clef. I was told that this is the jazz equivalent of Slonimsky's thesaurus. I can't fault it one bit."
- D. Hadley

"Great Source" - "This book is an excellent source book. Its not a book of licks, the patterns presented inspire the imagination and leave the listener/player wanting more. Spurring him/her on to hear more."
- Vangel Athanas