The Real Book.

pfftt

it's all about the FAKE books

 

I 2nd the Sher LEGAL Real Books.

www.shermusic.com

They just issued an European Composers' Real Book, too.

 

But you want to get the REAL fake books... Not a cheap imitation...

Randy

 

Yeah, the original Real Books are notoriously inaccurate. In fact I was using mine on a gig just last night and we realized (after playing through it once...doh!) that "Desafinado" was missing 4 bars after one of the modulations! The trumpet player appreciated that one.

That being said, any serious or jazz musician I have ever encountered has at least one copy of the original. I was lucky enough to stumble across a bass clef version years ago. Kinda handy.

Oh and they are flimsy as Hell...this is my 5th one.

 

I may be totally inaccurate on this, but I was under the impression that the Hal Leonard Real Books were basicly corrected and legal reissues of the old illegal Real Books, or at least pretty close.

Granted, they aren't perfect, but it gets me through what I need to at this point.

 

I use the WB REAl book. They have them in bass clef, C concert.

 

Errrr, I have about 12 books on one indexed CD. Oops, did I say that out loud?

 

That would be cool. Perchance, where might one find such a thing if one were so inclined...?

Not that I am of course...

 

You can get the Real Book (including bass clef) here:

http://www.musicianssupplyshop.com/

It's not in the online catalog, but call them and ask for it. They will ship it to you.

 

I'm not sure if that was directed at me, but if it was, I was referring to the CD. Though I'll keep that link handy as well.

 

Back in college, a guy would come to our campus every Fall and offer the books. The jazz professor had arranged for him to come from CA, I think? I have Book 1 in both Treble clef and in Bass clef but most of the time I use the infamous CD-ROM version.

The original, underground books contained numerous errors but it also provided many suggested revisions. At some point I went through and revised my copies. They came closer but some tunes were still incomplete, like Desafinado. Eventually I just re-wrote the pages and replaced the originals.

One part of all this that some people I've known fail to realize is that these are just books. They're a representation. They should be a guideline, not the end-all, be-all tomes of truth. The original book was apparently transcribed from recordings. IMHO, the only way you can truly "learn" a tune is to listen to recordings of the various versions of it. I tell my students that if you can't sing the melody, you don't know the song yet. Lyrics help a lot in this regard, too. That immediately gets you out of the habit of having your head buried in the book so you're free to play with the ensemble. Obviously, the idea of song permutation is not new. It is especially prevalent in the various folk musics of the world. When I open my Mandolin Fakebook or Fiddler's Fakebook I will come across multiple versions of the same tune. There is no definitive version of "Paddy on the Turnpike," for instance. You take what's in the book as a map. There is no subsitute for listening to recordings, emulating the playing and learning the myriad versions of each tune (and in all keys).

Back on topic, I have The New Real Book by Sher. It's okay but it doesn't have some of the tunes in RB1. I have looked at the new Hal Leonard books and they look promising.

 

+1, great book

 

This is true.

 

If one were so inclined one might only have to ask politely.

 

?

Seemed pretty polite to me...

Ummmm.......OK?

May I inquire about these CDs?

 

Did you get my email, Marcus? If anyone so desires, they may also ask me about this matter.
-Brad

 

Fake books. Bah, I say! I still use those index cards...

 

When I was touring Denmark, this music teacher I know gave me a cd with the following on it..

RealBk1 = Real Book I
RealBk2 = Real Book II
RealBk3 = Real Book III
NewReal1 = New Real Book I
NewReal2 = New Real Book II
NewReal3 = New Real Book III
ColoBk = The Colorado Cookbook
JazzLTD = Jazz LTD
JazzFake = The Jazz Fakebook
EvansBk = The Bill Evans Fakebook
Library = Library of Musicians' Jazz
TheBook = The Book (Commerical Music Fakebook)

I must admit, I was shocked when I saw what was on it. Although, I'm glad I won't be buying any more books. I had a few already, but this and £1000 worth of Aebersold books will keep me preoccupied for years to come!