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The Real Book (2021)

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Re: The Real Book (2021)

#21

Post by sbuttgereit »

pjdesno wrote: post #13

Someone I know who went to Berklee in the early 90s said that it was a required text for certain jazz classes, and you had to buy it from a bootlegger.

I was at Berklee in the late 80s and that's a pretty accurate statement both for the requirement and procurement.

Your friend was there close enough to the time that I was there that it was probably the same thing. There was "a guy" that hung out around the school... I'd usually see him somewhere around the intersection of Mass Ave and Boylston... And he was known as the guy to talk to if you wanted a real book (and probably other stuff as well). Every once in a while you'd see him just running off down the street like he was being chased or something (never saw a pursuer) though it was said every once in a while they'd try and busy him.

I didn't actually get my copy from him ... My high school band teacher was a pretty accomplished bebop guy that burned out playing in the house bands in Vegas and "retired" to teaching.... So he hooked those students of his up that had an interest in small group playing or gigging. So had my copy before going to Berklee.

Re: The Real Book (2021)

#22

Post by MrMcCall »

One of my favorite jokes:

Guy decides to go deep into Africa up the Congo River. After getting to the last easily accessible entry into the river, they board the smallish boat to begin the arduous trek deep into darkest Africa.

A day or three into the journey they start hearing distant drums, then as they continued after some days it got slowly louder. The guy started getting spooked and asks the Captain, "What's up with those drums?"

The Captain replies, "Don't worry. Everything's perfectly fine so long as they continue."

After more days of journeying, suddenly, one night, the drums just stop cold.

Fearfully, the guy inquires, "WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?!"

The Captain replies, "Bass solo."

Re: The Real Book (2021)

#23

Post by em3rgent0rdr »

neonscribe wrote: post #19
vunderba wrote: post #5

As an aside, fake books are a great way to get your feet wet learning how to extemporize while still having some guidance around the chord progression and melody. If you have an iPad, there's an app called iReal Pro with loads of lead sheets that add in some accompaniment (drums, guitar, etc.) so you can "play along" as well. https://www.irealpro.com

iReal Pro is a great resource, but what it provides are not lead sheets, they are just chord charts. Lead sheets have the melody of the song in standard notation, along with chord names and sometimes lyrics. iReal Pro's charts give chord names only.

I get very frustrated with cats on the stage who rely too much on the iReal Pro. If they don't know the melody, then they easily get lost when, for instance, an intro or other section is skipped (such as when the singer re-enters on the bridge after solos), and in general their comping tends to not be aware of how the melody fits in with the changes. At least when reading a leadsheet, readers know how the melody and harmony interact and can better play fills around the melody.

Re: The Real Book (2021)

#24

Post by CephalopodMD »

vunderba wrote: post #5

As an aside, fake books are a great way to get your feet wet learning how to extemporize while still having some guidance around the chord progression and melody. If you have an iPad, there's an app called iReal Pro with loads of lead sheets that add in some accompaniment (drums, guitar, etc.) so you can "play along" as well. https://www.irealpro.com

iReal pro is the new real book

Re: The Real Book (2021)

#25

Post by dhosek »

pjdesno wrote: post #13

Someone I know who went to Berklee in the early 90s said that it was a required text for certain jazz classes, and you had to buy it from a bootlegger.

I remember a friend managed to get a copy of a real book in the 90s and was so excited about it. When I sat down to play some tunes out of it, I was unfamiliar with the notation where Cmin7 was written C-7 and CMaj7 was C△. I figured out the latter, but thought the former was Cdim7 which led to some weird harmonizations before I figured it out.

Re: The Real Book (2021)

#26

Post by neonscribe »

brian_spiering wrote: post #11
xanderlewis wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who looks down on the Real Book?

The Real Book is an excellent resource for what it is. However since it is the primary book of jazz, it can have too much of an influence. The Real Book has a limited number of songs and entire subgenres of jazz are not represented. The structure of the songs is relatively narrow. Songs are rarely added.

There are now six volumes of Real Books from Hal Leonard, plus a several others organized around genres or artists, plus the Sher Music books. A few thousand songs. Not every player has every book, but they are all available. Most songs are available for purchase for a few dollars each as downloadable PDFs.

Re: The Real Book (2021)

#27

Post by h-c-c »

MrMcCall wrote: post #22

One of my favorite jokes: Guy decides to go deep into Africa up the Congo River. After getting to the last easily accessible entry into the river, they board the smallish boat to begin the arduous trek deep into darkest Africa. A day or three into the journey they start hearing distant drums, then as they continued after some days it got slowly louder. The guy started getting spooked and asks the Captain, "What's up…

A married couple hasn't spoken to each other in 10 years. Their daughter seeks out the best marriage counselor she can find and gets her parents to agree to go to a session.

After their first visit the daughter follows up with the therapist and asks if he could get them to talk to each other. "Not this time, but we have another appointment next week. I'll take another crack at it."

The parents show up to their next appointment. The therapist is trying everything he can think of to get them to speak to each other. Because he has a reputation to uphold he's getting a little worried. He tells the daughter, "We've got another appointment next week and I've got one last thing I can try."

When the married couple steps into the therapist's office, therapist doesn't say a word but pulls out an upright bass out of his closet and starts playing a solo. They immediately start talking.

Re: The Real Book (2021)

#28

Post by glimshe »

h-c-c wrote: post #27
MrMcCall wrote: post #22

One of my favorite jokes: Guy decides to go deep into Africa up the Congo River. After getting to the last easily accessible entry into the river, they board the smallish boat to begin the arduous trek deep into darkest Africa. A day or three into the journey they start hearing distant drums, then as they continued after some days it got slowly louder. The guy started getting spooked and asks the Captain, "What's up…

A married couple hasn't spoken to each other in 10 years. Their daughter seeks out the best marriage counselor she can find and gets her parents to agree to go to a session. After their first visit the daughter follows up with the therapist and asks if he could get them to talk to each other. "Not this time, but we have another appointment next week. I'll take another crack at it." The parents show up to their next a…

You two! Bass solos can be great!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=it0PN8RrEZI

Re: The Real Book (2021)

#29

Post by MrMcCall »

glimshe wrote: post #28
h-c-c wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A married couple hasn't spoken to each other in 10 years. Their daughter seeks out the best marriage counselor she can find and gets her parents to agree to go to a session. After their first visit the daughter follows up with the therapist and asks if he could get them to talk to each other. "Not this time, but we have another appointment next week. I'll take another crack at it." The parents show up to their next a…

You two! Bass solos can be great! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=it0PN8RrEZI

Thanks, I've never heard of them before. Excellent.

For whatever reason, we love this session by this incredible jazz band:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pYHCGYJbw0

"Enjoy." --Daniel Tosh

Re: The Real Book (2021)

#30

Post by analog31 »

em3rgent0rdr wrote: post #23
neonscribe wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

iReal Pro is a great resource, but what it provides are not lead sheets, they are just chord charts. Lead sheets have the melody of the song in standard notation, along with chord names and sometimes lyrics. iReal Pro's charts give chord names only.

I get very frustrated with cats on the stage who rely too much on the iReal Pro. If they don't know the melody, then they easily get lost when, for instance, an intro or other section is skipped (such as when the singer re-enters on the bridge after solos), and in general their comping tends to not be aware of how the melody fits in with the changes. At least when reading a leadsheet, readers know how the melody and…

Indeed it's worth mentioning, to a general audience, that iRealPro only displays the harmonies (chord changes) for tunes, and not melodies. Whereas, "fake books" include both melody and harmony.

The reason is that copyright only covers melody and lyrics, not harmony. So the harmonies are essentially public domain.

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