If you have an iPhone or iPod Touch, iReal Book is a fantastic app! It contains charts for 900 jazz standards, with each tune on only one screen (no page swiping needed!). Because of the phone's illuminated screen and the particular font used, these charts are READABLE on a music stand, which means no more lugging Real Books to gigs, and no more dealing with low lighting situations! The selection of tunes is very comprehensive; there have been only a handful of tunes I couldn't find in here. If you don't like the changes for any tune, you can edit them to your heart's content. If the singer does the tune in a different key, iReal Book transposes the chart at the touch of a button. In addition, the app will PLAY each chart with piano, bass, and drums in a variety of styles at any tempo you choose. You can also vary the volume level of each instrument, or omit it entirely, making this a great practice tool. Cost? The basic app is around $6, and for an extra $10 you can get a style expansion pack which adds a number of latin rhythmic styles to the play-along section. At 3X the price, this app would be worth it! It's almost worth getting an iPhone just for this app if you don't already have one. Unfortunately, they've taken it off the iTunes App Store temporarily, but it is supposed to be back up in a few weeks. Until then, you can check it out at
here.
