Real Book 6th ed.

[Mr.Phil]

Hello everyone,

I have to pick up a real book for a sax player thats just joined a little jazz combo I have. Currently we are all working out of older editions, and I was wondering if the 6th edition (now published legally by Hal Leanard) is the same as the older ones. That is, same songs same pages etc. Any help is appreciated.
Thanks,
-Phil

[TroyK]

It is not. Songs are different. WHere there are the same, in some cases keys are different. "Mistakes" in the original were "fixed" in the Hal Leonard version making them largely incompatable.

I'll save you the Real Book lecture, but to answer your question directly; no, they're not the same. There will be some useful overlap, but it's a different book.

[Dave Speranza]

The books are slightly different - some bad things can happen if you play a tune and don't realize one edition has different changes/key etc. However if you are in a rehearsal group and are looking the stuff over before it should be easy enough to get things together, just bring a pencil. Some tunes in the 5th edition arent in the 6th, but the ones that come to mind (Green dolphin st, alone together) are tunes worth taking the time to learn.

Its good to know the contents of both of them anyways. I play with some people who are "5th edition" guys and I remember which changes they use, and then sometimes with the 6th edition guys and have to play different changes.

[Aaron Saunders]

Originally Posted by TroyK

It is not. Songs are different. WHere there are the same, in some cases keys are different. "Mistakes" in the original were "fixed" in the Hal Leonard version making them largely incompatable.

I'll save you the Real Book lecture, but to answer your question directly; no, they're not the same. There will be some useful overlap, but it's a different book.

+1

In order to make it 100% legal, they had to cut a fair amount of tunes. A lot of old standards/jazz standards are no longer in the book and have been replaced with others.

[TroyK]

So, here's a tiny piece of Real Book lecture:

The differences might be good for you. You'll hear the clash and have to figure out what's causing it. There are some significant issues with some charts in the old book, like "Up Jumped Spring" and "Desifanado" and "Blue Trane", if you haven't noticed them yet, you will when your sax player is using an updated chart.

So, ideally, it will start to push you away from the charts and to a recording, decussion, comprehension and some decisions about how you want to play the tunes.

The Real Book arguably has it's place, but it's a crutch and when that crutch starts getting kicked out from under you, good things start to happen to your musicianship. Having partially incompatible books might be a step in the right direction.

I agree with Dave, when I take a gig with someone I don't know and they call one of those problem tunes, my eyes and ears are on alert to see if they're going to play the Real Book problems. If they are, I have to deal with it one way or another.

Troy

[Mr.Phil]

Alright thanks for the help everyone. I'm going to go ahead and purchase it anyway, as we do not play exclusively from the book. Rather, we use some of the stuff as filler when we need to make a set last a little longer. I'm sure enough will line up to accomplish this. I know people don't like the book, but for me its a nice little tool. I've been playing Double Bass for about 8 years, but not really jazz until a couple of years ago. I'm working on learning all those songs and trusting my ears, but at this point the real book stays. I like that I can see the melody and that makes it easier to pick interesting harmonies (when needed). Thanks again!
-Phil

[fish slapper]

As an intermediate hobby player, I got the 6th edition when I joined a jam group that others were using and we were having problems getting the charts to match up. I've had two teachers "attack" my 6th edition with a pencil to mark it up with their changes. I recently got a "New Real Book" to match up with another group and discovered that even that book has an older edition that the keys and changes don't completely match up either.

As its been pointed out, communication is the key. I know its an aquired skill you pro guys have to know the different versions, etc. And I've been following your thread, Troy, on weaning yourself from charts. I'm afraid I'm a long way from that.

[TroyK]

Originally Posted by fish slapper

And I've been following your thread, Troy, on weaning yourself from charts. I'm afraid I'm a long way from that.

You know, i said that too...a lot...emphatically...but if you just make it a goal and give yourself a deadline and start telling people so that you can't back out, you'll be surprised at what you can do.

[pnchad]

Is about 30 yrs old. I have all kinds of alternate changes, substitutions, transpositions, etc. scribbled throughout.

I don't know what I'll do when it finally disintegrates!

[armybass]

The new book is also missing some great tunes.