Minor 9th-ish?

Our editor 'claims' (pause for age-ist sniggers) his grandfather stumbled across this jazzy little finger-twister in a dark and dusty corner of an Allan Holdsworth 'song' (Evermore' from the first UK LP). He says try playing it as a four phrase figure - from the twelfth fret to the seventh, from there up to the tenth then back to the fifth. He also remarked on its suitability to use with gentle vibrato with a wang bar. The rest of us just say 'Jazz? Phew!', and 'it sort of looks like a minor 9th without a root note'.