Selecting a Real Book

John Harvey · #1 12-27-2008, 01:21 AM

I am considering buying the Hal Leonard Real Book. I visit U.N.T. frequently and noticed the "absolutely wrong" posting outside your door. I have a Chuck Sher book, but everytime I do a jazz gig (I do mostly country and pop) they give me the other one. Not once have I been asked to use the Chuck Sher book.

What is wrong with the one that I am considering purchasing?

Thanks,

John Harvey
TWU student and local bassist

Lynn Seaton · #2 12-27-2008, 08:04 AM

There is nothing wrong with the book you are considering purchasing. It is a legal book with registered copyrights. The sign on the board outside my office is against illegal fake book editions that don't pay royalties to composers.
Fake books are useful for getting through tunes that one does not know. I have used them myself. I used to be afraid of making mistakes so always had my eyes in the book. Finally an honest friend said he would rather I make a couple of mistakes while memorizing the tunes than have the fake book on the bandstand all the time. Sure enough, not having the book helped me to trust my memory. I would practice tunes by playing along with great recordings and faking my way through the tune. Then I would look at a fake book and see what it had to say. There would often be different chords on the recording than in the book, but that helped me learn different substitutions. I would also jam new tunes with my friends outside of gigs. After reading through a few choruses, I would try to look away from the music. If needed to, I could always look back at the music.
It is sad that one book dictates the repertoire of what people play. There are so many great tunes that are not in any one book, and some great tunes are not in any fake book.

John Harvey · #3 12-27-2008, 03:24 PM

Thanks for such a quick reply. I am going to buy the book today. I wish I had enough jazz gigs to memorize the tunes well without depending on a book. Unfortunately they are few and far in between for me. I will try and commit a wider repretoire to memory, however.

Thanks again and I hope to meet you at one of your gigs soon.

John H.

boylebass · #4 12-29-2008, 08:00 AM

I play with a number of different groups. I play the tunes I know from memory, but I invariably need a fakebook a few times a night. I work with one keyboard player who calls the strangest stuff (My Ideal?) and for this reason he hands me a book at the beginning of the gig. However, every tune he calls that I don't know gets a workout for the next gig. 'Bolivia' and 'Aguas de Marco' are memorized for our January gigs. Neither are in the HL book, but both in the Sher series. Chuck has a service that allows you to download the sheet music for individual songs for a fee, I think it's a few bucks a song. Well worth it, IMO.

I think Lynn's main point of playing from memory is spot on. The freedom you get when you get your nose out of the real book is great for improving everything on the bandstand.

brayjas · #5 01-11-2009, 03:44 PM

To quote the great Sherlock Holmes "i consider a man's brain originally is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture as you chose. A fool takes in all the lumber of every sort he comes across, so that the knowledge that might be usefull to him becomes crowded out, or at best is jumbled up with alot of other things, so he has difficulty laying his hands upon it. Now the skillfull workman is careful what he takes into his brain-attic. He will have nothing but the toolswhich may help him in doing his work, but of these he has a large assortment, and all in perfect order. It is a mistake to think that the little room has elastic walls and can distend to any extent. Depend upon it there comes a time when for every addition of knowledge you forget something that you knew before. it is the highest importance, therefore, not tohave useless facts elbowing out the usefull ones."
My point being that this obsession of the modern jazz musician with memorize obscure tunes from the great songbook runs contrary to the common sense of basic musicianship. Get your chops in order a clear you brain of crap. if you show up as leader on a gig, show up with books for the band that include your arrangements and preferences. Real books are tools and have application like any other tool. If someone calls me on a gig it's because I can rip the ass off a bass and serve it to you on a platter but they know up front I am a reader and proud of it.

Ed Fuqua · #6 01-12-2009, 12:26 PM

It's not about memorizing, it's about hearing. And hearing with enough clarity to play what you're hearing.

fdeck · #7 01-13-2009, 12:16 AM

A few years ago, I got fed up with hauling a pile of books, and an industrial strength music stand, to every gig. So I decided to experiment with leaving the books at home. I think it has greatly improved my listening ability, and my enjoyment of playing. Of course it's a judgment call whether to impose this experiment on any particular band, depending on the temperament of the players and the nature of the tunes being played.

For me, part of it is the sheer enjoyment factor from the mental challenge combined with the simplicity of working with nothing but the bare essentials on stage.

patman01 · #8 01-13-2009, 10:14 AM

I too play best without music

But I usually keep a fake book around

bobalew · #9 01-15-2009, 09:14 PM

I have all the HL and Sher stuff, but I still find myself spending time doing transcriptions of tunes I haven't found written any where. Is there another series of books out there?

By the time I finish a transcription I don't need it because I have the tune memorized, but my band mates still need it.

Lynn Seaton · #10 01-16-2009, 07:47 AM

Transcribing tunes is a time-honored way to learn tunes. As mentioned in previous posts, there are many great tunes that are not in any fake book. Jamey Aebersold ( www.jazzbooks.com ) sells a wide variety of fake books from Sher, HL, and others. The play a long series from him and other publishers have good changes.