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Jazz Standards Book

#21
I have the European Real Book - some very interesting tunes - much more modern and in many cases, very hard tunes to play.

Things like Bill Bruford's tunes would only be for the more advanced players/combos !! :eek:

So - while I can pick a tune from most Real Books and play them with other people, straight away - this one is a "work on it for a few weeks" kind of thing!! :p
 
#23
I would suggest getting the Treble clef real book (if it's not too late). It's a good idea to bring the treble clef, concert key book to jams and such because if you're the only one with a real book, everyone should be able to play by reading off that. Many horn plays don't know how/don't care to learn how to read bass clef.
 
#25
You'll find people knocking the Real Book for a variety of reasons. I have 2 editions and have used them for years (the Fake Book too) - in combo gigs. I think they are fine in general, but nothing replaces listening to the various incarnations of Standards as performed by notable artists. Billy Holiday, Miles, Count Basie, etc... You can read from a text and get a sort of 'literal' interpretation, but listening to the different ways the great performers and composers interpreted these tunes is where the real education lies.

And big +1 to playing with them with others. In one of my old combo gigs, we'd use the Fake Book constantly, but each time our leader would say something like, "Hey, let's swing this one instead of doing it Bossa Nova" or "Let's toss a samba in the bridge of "Bessie's Blues"... I never felt any standard had only one way to play it, so for me, the greatest thing about Standards was the endless ways you could choose to interpret them.
 
#26
ElectrAcoustic said:
When did the Real Book go legit? We used to have to whisper it to the clerk at the music store and pay cash to get one pulled out from the back.. all hush, hush like.. Now it's available online?? guess BMI & ASCAP aren't as hard-core as they used to be about it..
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Hal Leonard bought the rights to publish the tunes in their Real books, so they're legit.

There are still other fake books around, under the table. ;)
 
#27
This is a little off point but I'll mention it here anyway. When I get a book or chart a tune I go through it & number the chords (Nashville style) that way it won't matter if someone wants to do it in another key. Also, after you do it a bunch your "transpose-on-the-fly" skills will get better. It might just be me but it's much easier for me to think in numbers. YMMV.
 
#28
vinny said:
This is a little off point but I'll mention it here anyway. When I get a book or chart a tune I go through it & number the chords (Nashville style) that way it won't matter if someone wants to do it in another key. Also, after you do it a bunch your "transpose-on-the-fly" skills will get better. It might just be me but it's much easier for me to think in numbers. YMMV.
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Good idea! Especially if you're working with vocalists a lot. :rolleyes: :D
 
#29
ElectrAcoustic said:
When did the Real Book go legit? We used to have to whisper it to the clerk at the music store and pay cash to get one pulled out from the back.. all hush, hush like.. Now it's available online?? guess BMI & ASCAP aren't as hard-core as they used to be about it..
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Yeah, I remember the "bootleg" Real Book, too.
 
#33
Vinny's scratching in the changes in Nashville notation is a great idea. Now if only singers knew what key they wanted to sing'em in!

I used the Real Book vol 1 and vol 3 a whole lot. IMHO, I hate'em. But I use them 'cause that's what everybody else uses, and it's usually more important to all have the same book. But I'd be willing to do my part to change this. What is a better replacement to the Real Book, illegal edition? I just hate the three or five measures on a line, and there is a whole lot of dead weight in there. I'd happily buy two copies of a better book so there's more than one of it on the bandstand, but only if I know which one to buy. You know, start a trend.....
 
#35
Lots of folks knock the Real Book, but I use it pretty extensively. I have a steady dinner-music-type gig with a quartet of folks from my school, and we basically do the entire gig by bringing in Real Books and just calling tunes from that. It's really handy for everyone to have a massive book of standards, all written out the same way and transposed into each person's key. Even the page numbers are the same, which helps everybody get on the same page faster and therefore into the next tune faster.

I've also used it occasionally as a quick reference at local jam sessions whenever someone calls a tune I don't know. In that situation I almost always avoid playing the tune while reading from the Real Book, but if I find myself utterly in a jam it is a good last resort to fall back on.
 
#36
Paul K said:
What is a better replacement to the Real Book, illegal edition? I just hate the three or five measures on a line, and there is a whole lot of dead weight in there. I'd happily buy two copies of a better book so there's more than one of it on the bandstand, but only if I know which one to buy. You know, start a trend.....
Click to expand...

Sher's New Real Books are a bit more professional, and I see them almost as much as the Real Books. I think they have a considerably higher percentage of dead weight, though.
 

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