The "new" Real Book

[Free For All]

We started discussing this on the JoeHen thread, so I thought we should give it its own home so as not to derail that discussion.

Here's what it includes. Note the additions and deletions. I haven't seen it up close yet so I can't vouch for the "corrections".

So what do y'all think? Is this a service to musicians, corporate opportunism or a little of both? What do you think about the change in the contents?

[Alon Marcus]

Have you noticed that Jinrikisha is not there ?

I beleive that I won't buy the new version. The old one is more than enough for me, but I'll take a look at a local store. Maybe it's a better purchase for someone without a real book.

[Organfreak]

So what do y'all think? Is this a service to musicians, corporate opportunism or a little of both? What do you think about the change in the contents?

No Jeanine???

Useless!

Actually, it looks like a bit more of a useful collection that the old one. And how could it not be a service to musicians, in that musicians write the tunes, and now, we hope, they will get paid.

-OF

[BruceW]

So what do y'all think? Is this a service to musicians, corporate opportunism or a little of both? What do you think about the change in the contents?

This is obvious corporate opportunism. Jeannine is in Real Book 2 and for instance, The Very Thought of You is in Real Book 3. Yes, there are THREE books in order to get what you got in ONE book waaaaaay back in JazzzzzzzzzLand times.

Then, there is the New Real Book 1, the New Real Book 2, the New Real Book 3; who the hell wants to carry all those books around?????

Ooops, excuse me, you were talking about the Hal Leonard Real Book, and I'll be darned, there is a Standards Real Book, when is it going to stop.

Times have changed my friend BUT if you have NO books, then at least you are getting a good start.

Keep making music

B-)

Bruce

[Michael Fitzgerald]

I'm all in favor of getting the tunes correct. I own probably a dozen fake books, including all the illegal Real Books. Then I've got dozens more books of other kinds (Broadway vocal scores, transcriptions, full scores, etc.). Then there are all the transcriptions of tunes that I've done myself. Hey, I'm into repertoire - anyone who is will have a similar archive.

Certainly there are tunes that have been left out of this new legal Real Book that will be missed - at this point, it's a matter of xeroxing those few out of your existing illegal Real Book and making an "addendum" of your own.

What needs to be considered is what the point of a fake book is. If you are using it as your "charts" for your working band - well, you're lazy. A working band should have its own special arrangements. If you're dragging it to live jam sessions - well, people are probably going to look down on you for not having those tunes learned. My opinion is that a fake book is cool at informal home jam sessions with your friends, and as a starting point - STARTING POINT - for learning tunes. Once you've gotten serious enough about a tune to perform it live, you better not be playing it out of the fake book. And I don't mean that about the memorization aspect, because that doesn't matter so much to me, it's really about what you're doing to the tune - how you are personalizing it. If you've got a hip arrangement on a tune, I don't care if you and the band have music stands up there. But if you've got five copies of the Real Book on stage, that's sad. Come on - write some charts or pay somebody to write them for you. Intros, interludes, harmony lines, shout choruses, codas, etc. Even key changes and alternate chords for different choruses. Make it interesting!

I'll have to look at this one and I may end up getting it. If only to replace the old Real Book as a source for a lot of tunes. I have a database of sources for tunes and I'd love to eliminate the old Real Book from that.

Mike

[Michael Fitzgerald]

Added thought -

Do they REALLY put the tunes in that order in the book (as shown on Hal Leonard website)? With "A Child Is Born" under A? And "The Girl From Ipanema" under T?

If so, that's just fucking stupid. Basic universally-accepted alphabetization rules exist and have done for hundreds of years. It's excusable that some college kids selling stuff out of the trunk of their cars might not get this correct, but a major legitimate publisher has absolutely NO business doing this incorrectly. I don't care whether they're "just imitating the illegal one." They're supposed to be doing the job right - right chords, right royalties, right titles, right alphabetization.

Mike

[bertrand]

A couple of Wayne Shorter questions related to this new 'legal' Real Book.

1. Are there any Wayne Shorter compositions that were in the illegal book that are not in this one (I guess they could show up in volume 2)? Conversely, any Wayne pieces that are in the legal book that were not in the illegal book?

2. Is E.S.P. still credited to Miles as it was in the illegal book, or has it been corrected? Wayne is sole composer of this piece, according to the copyright deposits.

3. The illegal book had a piece called 'Black Diamond' credited to Roland Kirk. Is this in fact Wayne's composition from Introducing, or is it a different Kirk piece that I'm not aware of? Who is credited as composer in the legal book?

4. Someone once showed me a fake/real book that they had which included a Wayne piece called 'Message From Sol'. This blew my mind, because that piece (copyrighted in 1960) has never been recorded, at least not under that title. This piece is not in the new legal book. Was it in the illegal book? Does anyone know which book it was in?

Thanks in advance,

Bertrand.

P.S.: I just read Mike's second post about the alphebitization thing. I remember a hilarious passage in a Peter DeVries novel where the character went nuts going through a songbook when he saw a listing in the index for 'Camptown Races, De'.

Edited September 30, 2004 by bertrand

[Michael Fitzgerald]

The old Real Book had these:

Ana Maria

Armageddon

Beauty And The Beast

Black Nile

Delores

Deluge

El Gaucho

E.S.P.

Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum

Footprints

House Of Jade

Iris

Juju

Mahjong

Miyako

Mr. Jin

Nefertiti

Night Dreamer

Orbits

Pinocchio

Prince Of Darkness

Speak No Evil

Virgo

Wild Flower

Witch Hunt

Yes Or No

It also credited Wayne with 502 Blues and De Pois De Amor O'Vazio.

Of the above 26, it appears that Mr. Jin is the only one not in the Hal Leonard Real Book.

The tune "Black Diamond" in the illegal Real Book is incorrectly credited to Roland Kirk. It is by Milton Sealey. Kirk recorded it on Rip, Rig & Panic. No connection to the Wayne piece of the same name.

Mike

[bertrand]

Thanks Mike! That was quick.

It also looks like the spelling for 'Dolores' and the title for 'Yes And No' match the copyrights in the Hal Leonard book, but not in the old real book.

Bertrand.

Edited September 30, 2004 by bertrand

[bertrand]

A general comment. Although I agree with Mike in theory that the real book should only be a starting point, in practice, I see it used all the time at jam sessions, and I have to admit, this bothers me less than the alternative, which is to hear the same tired standards over and over because these are the only tunes that everyone knows without using the book. At least the real book has some fairly obscure pieces in it (like most of those Wayne Shorter compositions listed above).

On one hand, I should shut up because I am not a musician, but on the other hand, I am a paying customer, so I should have some opinion of what is played. I stopped going to jam sessions because of this, and only started again because it's something laid back enough that I can bring my 4-year-old to. And even he has grown tired of some tunes

Bertrand.

[Michael Fitzgerald]

OK - after a quick and dirty comparison, here's what I come up with. Asterisks indicate added new tunes, not in the illegal Real Book. Omissions are noted at the start of each letter.

LETTER A – missing All In Love Is Fair; All My Tomorrows; Alone Together; And Now, The Queen; And On The Third Day; Around Again; As Time Goes By; Ay, Arriba!

African Flower (Petite Fleur Africaine)

Afro Blue

Afternoon In Paris

* Agua De Beber (Water To Drink)

Airegin

Alfie

Alice In Wonderland

All Blues

* All By Myself

All Of Me

All Of You

All The Things You Are

* Alright, Okay, You Win

* Always

Ana Maria

Angel Eyes

Anthropology

* Apple Honey

April In Paris

April Joy

Arise, Her Eyes

Armageddon

Au Privave

Autumn In New York

Autumn Leaves

LETTER B – missing Ballet; Batterie; Beneath It All; Bitter Suite In The Ozone; Black Monday; Blessed Relief; Blue Comedy; Boston Marathon; Brainville; Brownout

Beautiful Love

Beauty And The Beast

Bessie's Blues

Bewitched

Big Nick

* Black Coffee

Black Diamond

Black Narcissus

Black Nile

Black Orpheus

Blue Bossa

Blue In Green

Blue Monk

Blue Room, The

Blue Train (Blue Trane)

Blues For Alice

Bluesette

Body And Soul

Boplicity (Be Bop Lives)

Bright Size Life

Broad Way Blues

* Broadway

But Beautiful

Butterfly

* Byrd Like

LETTER C – missing A Call For All Demons; Canyon Song; Chicken Feathers; Colors Of Chloe; Children’s Song; Conference Of The Birds; Country Roads

* Call Me

* Call Me Irresponsible

* Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man

Captain Marvel

Central Park West

Ceora

* C'est Si Bon (It's So Good)

Chega De Saudade (No More Blues)

Chelsea Bells

Chelsea Bridge

Cherokee (Indian Love Song)

* Cherry Pink And Apple Blossom White

Child Is Born, A

Chippie

* Chitlins Con Carne

Come Sunday

Como En Vietnam

Con Alma

Conception

Confirmation

Contemplation

Coral

Cotton Tail

Could It Be You

Countdown

Crescent

Crystal Silence

LETTER D – missing The Days Of Wine And Roses; De Pois De Amor O’Vazio; The Dolphin; The Duke; Duplicities

* D Natural Blues

Daahoud

Dancing On The Ceiling

Darn That Dream

Day Waves

Days And Nights Waiting

Dear Old Stockholm

Dearly Beloved

Dedicated To You

Deluge

Desafinado

Desert Air

* Detour Ahead

Dexterity

* Dizzy Atmosphere

Django

Doin' The Pig

Dolores

Dolphin Dance

Domino Biscuit

Donna Lee

Don't Blame Me

Don't Get Around Much Anymore

* Dream A Little Dream Of Me

* Dreamsville

LETTER E – missing Eiderdown; Elizete; Empathy

E.S.P.

* Easter Parade

Easy Living

Easy To Love (You'd Be So Easy To Love)

Ecclusiastics

Eighty One

El Gaucho

Epistrophy

Equinox

Equipoise

LETTER F – missing Fables Of Faubus; A Family Joy; Feelings And Things; The Fields We Know; Flags; A Foggy Day; Fortune Smiles; Four Winds

Fall

Falling Grace

Falling In Love With Love

Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum

Fine Romance, A

500 Miles High

502 Blues

Follow Your Heart

Footprints

* For All We Know

For Heaven's Sake

* (I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons

Forest Flower

Four

Four On Six

Freddie Freeloader

Freedom Jazz Dance

* Full House

LETTER G – missing Gary’s Waltz; General Mojo’s Well Laid Plan; The Gentle Rain; Goodbye Pork Pie Hat

* Gee Baby, Ain't I Good To You

Gemini

Giant Steps

Girl From Ipanema, The (Garota De Ipanema)

Gloria's Step

God Bless' The Child

Golden Lady

Good Evening Mr. And Mrs. America

Grand Central

Green Mountains, The

Groovin' High

Grow Your Own

* Guilty

* Gypsy In My Soul

LETTER H – missing Hasaan’s Dream; Henninger Flats; Herzog; Hey There; Hold Out Your Hand; Hotel Hello; Hotel Overture; Hotel Vamp

Half Nelson

Have You Met Miss Jones?

Heaven

* Heebie Jeebies

Hello, Young Lovers

Here's That Rainy Day

* Hot Toddy

House Of Jade

How High The Moon

How Insensitive (Insensatez)

How My Heart Sings

Hullo Bolinas

LETTER I – missing Ictus; Ida Lupino; I’m Afraid; In Your Own Sweet Way; Inside In; It’s A Raggy Waltz

I Can't Get Started With You

* I Can't Give You Anything But Love

I Could Write A Book

I Got It Bad And That Ain't Good

I Let A Song Go Out Of My Heart

I Love Paris

I Love You

I Mean You

I Remember Clifford

I Should Care

* I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free

Icarus

If You Never Come To Me (Inutil paisagem)

* I'll Never Smile Again

I'll Remember April

I'm All Smiles

* I'm Beginning To See The Light

I'm Your Pal

Impressions

In A Mellow Tone

In A Sentimental Mood

* In The Mood

* In The Wee Small Hours Of The Morning

In Your Quiet Place

Inch Worm, The

Indian Lady

Inner Urge

Interplay

Intrepid Fox, The

Invitation

Iris

* Is You Is, Or Is You Ain't (Ma' Baby)

Isn't It Romantic?

Isotope

Israel

It Don't Mean A Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)

* It's Easy To Remember

LETTER J – missing Jamala, Jinrikisha; June The 15th, 1967; Just Friends

Jelly Roll

Jordu

Journey To Recife

Joy Spring

Juju

Jump Monk

* June In January

* Just One More Chance

LETTER K - complete

Kelo

LETTER L – missing La Fiesta; Leroy The Magician; Lie Awake; Little B’s Poem; Little Niles; Liturgy; Long As You Know You’re Living Yours; Looking Back

Lady Bird

* Lady Sings The Blues

Lament

Las Vegas Tango

Lazy Bird

* Lazy River

Like Someone In Love

Limehouse Blues

* Lines And Spaces

Litha

Little Boat

Little Waltz

Long Ago (And Far Away)

Lonnie's Lament

Look To The Sky

* Love Is The Sweetest Thing

Lucky Southern

Lullaby Of Birdland

Lush Life

LETTER M – missing Mallet Man; May Dance; Memphis Underground; Mevlevia; Molten Glass; Montage; Moon Germs; The More I See You; Mother Of The Dead Man

Magician In You, The

Mahjong

Maiden Voyage

* Man And A Woman, A (Un Homme Et Une Femme)

Man In The Green Shirt

Meditation (Meditacao)

Memories Of Tomorrow

Michelle

Midnight Mood

Midwestern Nights Dream

Milano

Minority

* Miss Ann

Missouri Uncompromised

Misty

Miyako

Moment's Notice

Mood Indigo

Moonchild

* Most Beautiful Girl In The World, The

Mr. P.C.

* My Buddy

My Favorite Things

My Foolish Heart

My Funny Valentine

My One And Only Love

My Romance

* My Shining Hour

My Ship

* My Way

Mysterious Traveller

LETTER N – missing Night And Day; Nimbus; Nonsequence

Naima (Niema)

Nardis

Nefertiti

Never Will I Marry

Nica's Dream

Night Dreamer

Night Has A Thousand Eyes, The

Night In Tunisia, A

* Night Train

* Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out

Nostalgia In Times Square

* Nuages

LETTER O – missing Olhos De Gato; On Green Dolphin Street; Open Your Eyes, You Can Fly

* (Old Man From) The Old Country

Oleo

Oliloqui Valley

Once I Loved (Amor Em Paz) (Love In Peace)

* Once In Love With Amy

One Finger Snap

One Note Samba (Samba De Uma Nota So)

* Only Trust Your Heart

Orbits

Ornithology

Out Of Nowhere

LETTER P – missing Peaches En Regalia; Pearlie’s Swine; Pee Wee; Perfect Love; Plain Jane

* P.S. I Love You

* Paper Doll

Passion Dance

* Passion Flower

Peace

Peggy's Blue Skylight

Pent Up House

* Penthouse Serenade

Peri's Scope

Pfrancing (No Blues)

Pinocchio

Pithecanthropus Erectus

Portsmouth Figurations

Prelude To A Kiss

Prince Of Darkness

Pussy Cat Dues

LETTER Q - complete

Quiet Nights Of Quiet Stars (Corcovado)

Quiet Now

LETTER R – missing The Raven; The Real Guitarist In The House; Resolution

Recorda-Me

Red Clay

Reflections

Reincarnation Of A Lovebird

* Ring Dem Bells

Road Song

'Round Midnight

* Ruby, My Dear

LETTER S – missing Same Shame; Self Portrait In Three Colors; Semblence; Senor Mouse; Serenade To A Cuckoo; Shades Of Light; The Shadow Of Your Smile; Sing Me Softly Of The Blues; Slowly Gone, Bygone; Some Other Time; Son Of Mr. Green Genes; Song; Space Circus 1; Space Circus 2; Spain; Spiral Dance; Sweeping Up; Sweet Rain

Saga Of Harrison Crabfeathers, The

Satin Doll

Scotch And Soda

Scrapple From The Apple

Sea Journey

Seven Come Eleven

Seven Steps To Heaven

Sidewinder

Silver Hollow

Sirabhorn

Skating In Central Park

So Nice (Summer Samba)

So What

Solar

Solitude

Some Day My Prince Will Come

* Some Other Spring

Some Skunk Funk

* Somebody Loves Me

Sometime Ago

Song For My Father

Song Is You, The

Sophisticated Lady

Sorcerer, The

Speak No Evil

Sphinx, The

* Standing On The Corner

Star-Crossed Lovers, The

Stella By Starlight

Steps

Stolen Moments

Stompin' At The Savoy

Straight No Chaser

* String Of Pearls, A

Stuff

Sugar

* Sunday Kind Of Love, A

* Surrey With The Fringe On Top, The

Swedish Pastry

Sweet Georgia Bright

Sweet Henry

LETTER T – missing They Can’t Take That Away From Me; Tough Talk; Train Samba Trance

Take Five

Take The 'A' Train

Tame Thy Pen

Tell Me A Bedtime Story

* Thanks For The Memory

* That's Amore (That's Love)

There Is No Greater Love

There Will Never Be Another You

* There'll Be Some Changes Made

* They Didn't Believe Me

Think On Me

* Thou Swell

Three Flowers

Time Remembered

Tones For Joan's Bones

* Topsy

* Tour De Force

Triste

Tune Up

Turn Out The Stars

* Twisted Blues

LETTER U - complete

* Unchain My Heart

Uniquity Road

Unity Village

Up Jumped Spring

Upper Manhattan Medical Group (UMMG)

LETTER V – missing Vashkar

Valse Hot

Very Early

Virgo

LETTER W – missing Walkin’; Walter L.; Waltz For A Lovely Wife; Waltzin’; What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life; What Is This Thing Called Love; Where Are You; Wings Of Karma

Wait Till You See Her

Waltz For Debby

Wave

We'll Be Together Again

Well You Needn't (It's Over Now)

West Coast Blues

What Am I Here For?

What Was

When I Fall In Love

When Sunny Gets Blue

When You Wish Upon A Star

* Whispering

Wild Flower

Windows

Witch Hunt

* Wives And Lovers (Hey, Little Girl)

* Woodchopper's Ball

Woodyn' You

* World Is Waiting For The Sunrise, The

LETTER Y - complete

Yes And No

Yesterday

Yesterdays

You Are The Sunshine Of My Life

You Are Too Beautiful

* You Brought A New Kind Of Love To Me

You Don't Know What Love Is

You Took Advantage Of Me

* Young At Heart

* You're Nobody 'til Somebody Loves You

Mike

Edited September 30, 2004 by Michael Fitzgerald

[Rooster_Ties]

I just wish to hell that they'd left "All Of Me" and "How High The Moon" out of the new edition.

[Free For All]

Wow, Mike, thanks for the research project. What do we owe you?

I'm surprised that some common and popular "desert island" tunes got axed. Alone Together, In Your Own Sweet Way, Just Friends, Night and Day, What Is This Thing Called Love (among others) are all common session tunes that all players should know. I wonder if it was a copyright issue?

I'm also curious to see if they corrected the MANY mistakes from the original. Dear Old Stockholm was a mess.

And Rooster- you'd have thought they might have added Beatrice, which has become a standard 'round most parts.

[JSngry]

http://www-user.tu-chemnitz.de/~adams/realbook/

[Organfreak]

missing: Alone Together; The Days Of Wine And Roses; A Foggy Day; Four Winds; The Gentle Rain; Goodbye Pork Pie Hat; In Your Own Sweet Way; Just Friends; La Fiesta; Night And Day; On Green Dolphin Street; Serenade To A Cuckoo; The Shadow Of Your Smile; They Can’t Take That Away From Me; Walkin’; What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life; What Is This Thing Called Love;

Unacceptable!

OTOH, there are some welcome additions.

Thanks for doing all this work so we can compare at a glance.

-OF

[Organfreak]

Dear Old Stockholm was a mess.

Werd.

-OF

[bertrand]

Mike,

A couple of comments for the Wayne Shorter part of your listing.

1. Two pieces are in the new book (without an asterisk) that you did not mention in your listing of Wayne compositions from the old book: 'Fall' and 'Mysterious Traveller' (I assume it's Wayne's 'Fall').

2. You mentioned that 'Mr. Jin' had been dropped; it is not in your listing of missing songs beginning with 'M'.

Bertrand.

Edited September 30, 2004 by bertrand

[Michael Fitzgerald]

Yeah, quick and dirty. All three are by Wayne and are in the illegal version credited to him.

Mike

[BruceW]

What needs to be considered is what the point of a fake book is. If you are using it as your "charts" for your working band - well, you're lazy. A working band should have its own special arrangements. If you're dragging it to live jam sessions - well, people are probably going to look down on you for not having those tunes learned. My opinion is that a fake book is cool at informal home jam sessions with your friends, and as a starting point - STARTING POINT - for learning tunes. Once you've gotten serious enough about a tune to perform it live, you better not be playing it out of the fake book. And I don't mean that about the memorization aspect, because that doesn't matter so much to me, it's really about what you're doing to the tune - how you are personalizing it. If you've got a hip arrangement on a tune, I don't care if you and the band have music stands up there. But if you've got five copies of the Real Book on stage, that's sad. Come on - write some charts or pay somebody to write them for you. Intros, interludes, harmony lines, shout choruses, codas, etc. Even key changes and alternate chords for different choruses. Make it interesting!

Mike

Michael

I personally want to thank you for your statements. Waaay tooo many musicians today think that a chart is a "copy of a page from the Real Book." They treat the Real Book like it is the Bible. I personally know a few musicians out here in California that could use a professional tongue lashing because of their attitudes. They are lazy, non professional and "very sloppy" in playing the tunes, they have no arrangements, no endings and "always" fall on the "inept excuse" of "well we like to wing it." I just quit a band because of those attitudes they have. And to top it off, they weren't making any "money" either.Keep up the playing, the music, and the professional approach; I applaud you.

B-)

Bruce

[Michael Fitzgerald]

Hi Bruce -

Yeah, I hear you. I've been on plenty of gigs where it was: flip through the Real Book and find something, then a string of solos, then the head again, then a pause to flip through again. Way too many musicians have a problem with doing rehearsals. They think they are so important (and maybe so good) that rehearsals are unnecessary. As far as I'm concerned, I'd actually rather rehearse than play the gig! So long as there is stretching and discussion and improvement going on. Too many times it's: get a gig, maybe rehearse once or twice for it. What I think it should be is: rehearse (weekly?) until you are ready to present something that is original and polished, and THEN go out to find a gig.

I guess some folks heard that comment by Miles about "I pay you to rehearse on the bandstand" and figured they were in the same league as Herbie, Ron, and Tony. Oops.

Mike

[Jim Alfredson]

Playing tired standards all night doesn't appeal to me at all. That's one of the reason why our record is all original tunes and why strive to write our own tunes or do new arrangements of standards.

[Organfreak]

Playing tired standards all night doesn't appeal to me at all.  That's one of the reason why our record is all original tunes and why strive to write our own tunes or do new arrangements of standards.

Me too, dood. I don't do many originals, but I have for years featured some incredible Jack McDuff head arrangements, and the audiences love them! They really respond to the built-in excitement and surprises of these arrangements. I still play a few standards that I feel adapt themselves well to organ, like "Yesterdays" for example, and then there is the world of jazz organ standards to draw on-- heads by JOS, McGriff, Holmes, etc.

If asked to play "Blue Bossa" ever again, I would book a flight to a desert island real quick.

-OF