Weaning off real books?

[MD]

I'd rather have a chart in front of me and know I'm nailing the changes than not.

My Saturday session works out of a 3" binder with maybe 200 tunes.
Another piano player friend has a book of 150+ tunes.
Last weekends gig was backing a singer. She handed me a book of maybe 40 tunes, she called them in a relaxed fashion, allowing me time to flip the pages before counting off.
The same gig, the horn player brought his own book for instrumentals; another 75+ tunes.

No way am I going to memorize all these tunes.
No way am I going to feel less of a player for wanting a chart.

 

[SteveC]

I never use charts in a cover band gig. Easier for me to memorize thee tunes I guess.
I use charts at church - even though I probably don't need them but - you just never know.
I use charts for jazz gigs. I only play about a dozen a year (mostly in the summer at farmers markets, art shows, stuff like that) so I don't do it enough to memorize the tunes.

If I use charts, I have them on my iPad. It's not quite as obvious as a music stand and binder or having a couple real books out and it's easy to find tunes.

 

[IamGroot]

The OP said "Real Book" which, in my mind at least, implied about 100 to 150 of the most commonly called jazz tunes found in the original 3 volumes of the original Real Book, plus maybe 15 or so common requests. Exactly which tunes were "standard" depended on the type of job and the other players. If it was a piano/bass Sunday brunch, it was pretty predictable. Latin players had a subset of numbers as did sax, guitar, vocalists, etc.

When you got the call or email for a gig, if it said Real Book, you were expected to know the frequently called stds mentioned above. If a vocalist was setting up the gig, he or she usually included a song list. Arrangements were always generic unless specified otherwise.

For non Real Book jobs, I would love to sit and read charts and wouldnt have any qualms about doing so. Did church gigs and big band gigs for years that were 100% sight reading.
Unfortunately, cover bands usually want you to memorize the tunes which is 90% of the work.

 

[schott1984]

The OP said "Real Book" which, in my mind at least, implied about 100 to 150 of the most commonly called jazz tunes found in the original 3 volumes of the original Real Book, plus maybe 15 or so common requests. Exactly which tunes were "standard" depended on the type of job and the other players. If it was a piano/bass Sunday brunch, it was pretty predictable. Latin players had a subset of numbers as did sax, guitar, vocalists, etc.

When you got the call or email for a gig, if it said Real Book, you were expected to know the frequently called stds mentioned above. If a vocalist was setting up the gig, he or she usually included a song list. Arrangements were always generic unless specified otherwise.

For non Real Book jobs, I would love to sit and read charts and wouldnt have any qualms about doing so. Did church gigs and big band gigs for years that were 100% sight reading.
Unfortunately, cover bands usually want you to memorize the tunes which is 90% of the work.

Yeah I was referring to the jazz real books or other jazz sheets.