Real Book
Encyclopedia
The Real Book can refer to any of a number of popular compilations of lead sheets for jazz tunes, but is generally used to refer to Volume 1 of an underground series of books transcribed and collated by students at Berklee College of Music
during the 1970s.
Whether the book used is the older "illegal" edition or the newer, Hal Leonard "legal" edition, at least one edition of The Real Book has become an indispensable resource for all aspiring and current jazz musicians. Musicians find it convenient to work from "the book", because it is available in different editions to suit B, E, and C (concert-pitch) instruments, as well as a bass clef edition. A band leader can conveniently call out page numbers, since each edition is also paginated identically.
and pianist Paul Bley
are rumored to have been responsible for producing lead sheet
s for the book. However, this is a myth. Compositions by Swallow, Bley, and their friends (e.g., Chick Corea
) are heavily represented in The Real Book alongside jazz standard
s and classic jazz compositions because those were the songs that were being played most by jazz musicians in the early 1970s, when the book was created. There is also speculation that composer Stu Balcomb was heavily involved in putting the book together, given his credit in Swallow's album "Real Book" for "cover graphics", and given the presence of several of his tunes in the book. The handwriting in the Real Book matches that in the liner notes for the album as well, suggesting that the whole book was written out by Swallow. Again, this is not accurate - but Swallow knew who to call to get the picture for his album. Only the first volume is the original. The two following volumes of The Real Book were produced—volume 2 is printed in characteristically 'rough' handwriting and transcription, while the third volume is typeset on a computer.
The transcriptions in The Real Book are unlicensed, meaning that no royalties
are paid to the artists whose songs appear in the book. Consequently, the book violates copyright and is therefore illegal. In the past, it was usually sold surreptitiously in local music stores, often hidden behind the counter for customers who asked. PDF editions of the book are now often available on P2P networks.
The name is most likely a play on words from the common name for these types of song folios: "fake book
". It could however, have been influenced by the Boston alternative weekly newspaper, The Real Paper
, launched by writers of Boston's The Phoenix
after a labor dispute.
A variety of dates have been attributed to the book. The April 1990 issue of Esquire magazine featured The Real Book in the "Man At His Best" column by Mark Roman, in an article called "Clef Notes." He states, "I don't know a jazzman who hasn't owned, borrowed, or Xeroxed pages from a Real Book at least once in his career," and he quotes John Voigt, Berklee's music librarian, "The Real Book came out around 1971. The only material available in print then was crap." Another feature surfaced on April 10, 1994, in The New York Times
article, "Flying Below the Radar of Copyrights." Manhattan guitarist Bill Wurtzel is quoted as saying, "Everyone has one, but no one knows where they come from." The writer of the article, Michael Lydon, says that "I got mine in 1987 from a bassist who lives in Queens and who attended the Berklee School of Music in Boston; many in jazz circles suspect that students there reproduced the first copies of it in the mid-70's."
The most recent development has been the RealBookSoftware that contains all four transpositions (C, B, E, bass). This for-profit version allows musicians to sort or find charts by song title, artist, genre/style, key, or tempo and can be embedded with the original recordings for quick reference.
Music sequencing software Steinberg Cubase
has "Real Book" as a choice in Page Mode Setting, meaning that the key signature would be displayed only once at the top of the page in the notated sheet music, as is the style in the fake book.
Hal Leonard subsequently released The Real Book, Volume II, Second Edition in answer to the Real Book, Volume II. In July 2006 they released The Real Book, Volume III, Second Edition, and in December 2010, The Real Book, Volume IV. The Real Vocal Book, Volume I, Second Edition also appeared recently, clearly a (more legible) response to the old book of similar title.
These books contain much, but not all, of the same material as their counterparts; and in most cases, but not all, charts from the new Hal Leonard books are compatible with the Real Book charts. In some cases, compatibility issues occur where corrections have been made to some of the infamous mistakes in the 5th edition charts; in other cases, 6th edition charts may reference changes on better or more authoritative recordings.
The Hal Leonard edition has had a few printings where the publisher has corrected the lead sheets, yet they still published the changed books as the sixth edition.
As of June, 2011, Hal Leonard had released other Real Books - The Real Rock Book, The Real Blues Book, The Real Dixieland Book, The Real Bluegrass Book, The Real Bud Powell Book, The Real Duke Ellington Book, and The Real Christmas Book, all using the same format as the original Real Book.
Some other music publishers also apply the term Real Book to their own publications - for example, the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music
publishes The AB Real Book. Alfred Publishing Co.
has three real books.
Berklee College of Music
Berklee College of Music, located in Boston, Massachusetts, is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known primarily as a school for jazz, rock and popular music, it also offers college-level courses in a wide range of contemporary and historic styles, including hip...
during the 1970s.
Whether the book used is the older "illegal" edition or the newer, Hal Leonard "legal" edition, at least one edition of The Real Book has become an indispensable resource for all aspiring and current jazz musicians. Musicians find it convenient to work from "the book", because it is available in different editions to suit B, E, and C (concert-pitch) instruments, as well as a bass clef edition. A band leader can conveniently call out page numbers, since each edition is also paginated identically.
History of the 'original' Real Book
Bassist Steve SwallowSteve Swallow
Steve Swallow is a jazz double bass and bass guitarist and composer born in Fair Lawn, New Jersey.One of the leading bassists in jazz, Swallow is noted for collaborations with Jimmy Giuffre, Gary Burton and Carla Bley...
and pianist Paul Bley
Paul Bley
Paul Bley, CM is a pianist known for his contributions to the free jazz movement of the 1960s as well as his innovations and influence on trio playing.-Biography:...
are rumored to have been responsible for producing lead sheet
Lead sheet
A lead sheet is a form of music notation that specifies the essential elements of a popular song: the melody, lyrics and harmony. The melody is written in modern Western music notation, the lyric is written as text below the staff and the harmony is specified with chord symbols above the...
s for the book. However, this is a myth. Compositions by Swallow, Bley, and their friends (e.g., Chick Corea
Chick Corea
Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea is an American jazz pianist, keyboardist, and composer.Many of his compositions are considered jazz standards. As a member of Miles Davis' band in the 1960s, he participated in the birth of the electric jazz fusion movement. In the 1970s he formed Return to Forever...
) are heavily represented in The Real Book alongside jazz standard
Jazz standard
Jazz standards are musical compositions which are an important part of the musical repertoire of jazz musicians, in that they are widely known, performed, and recorded by jazz musicians, and widely known by listeners. There is no definitive list of jazz standards, and the list of songs deemed to be...
s and classic jazz compositions because those were the songs that were being played most by jazz musicians in the early 1970s, when the book was created. There is also speculation that composer Stu Balcomb was heavily involved in putting the book together, given his credit in Swallow's album "Real Book" for "cover graphics", and given the presence of several of his tunes in the book. The handwriting in the Real Book matches that in the liner notes for the album as well, suggesting that the whole book was written out by Swallow. Again, this is not accurate - but Swallow knew who to call to get the picture for his album. Only the first volume is the original. The two following volumes of The Real Book were produced—volume 2 is printed in characteristically 'rough' handwriting and transcription, while the third volume is typeset on a computer.
The transcriptions in The Real Book are unlicensed, meaning that no royalties
Royalties
Royalties are usage-based payments made by one party to another for the right to ongoing use of an asset, sometimes an intellectual property...
are paid to the artists whose songs appear in the book. Consequently, the book violates copyright and is therefore illegal. In the past, it was usually sold surreptitiously in local music stores, often hidden behind the counter for customers who asked. PDF editions of the book are now often available on P2P networks.
The name is most likely a play on words from the common name for these types of song folios: "fake book
Fake book
A fake book is a collection of musical lead sheets intended to help a performer quickly learn new songs. Each song in a fake book contains the melody line, basic chords, and lyrics - the minimal information needed by a musician to make an impromptu arrangement of a song, or "fake it."The fake book...
". It could however, have been influenced by the Boston alternative weekly newspaper, The Real Paper
The Real Paper
The Real Paper was a Boston alternative weekly newspaper with a circulation of 50,000. It ran from August 2, 1972, to June 18, 1981, often devoting space to counterculture issues of the early 1970s. The offices were located on Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge, Massachusetts.The Cambridge Phoenix...
, launched by writers of Boston's The Phoenix
The Phoenix (newspaper)
The Phoenix is the name of several alternative weekly newspapers published in the United States by Phoenix Media/Communications Group of Boston, Massachusetts including the Boston Phoenix, the Providence Phoenix, the Portland Phoenix and the now-defunct Worcester Phoenix...
after a labor dispute.
A variety of dates have been attributed to the book. The April 1990 issue of Esquire magazine featured The Real Book in the "Man At His Best" column by Mark Roman, in an article called "Clef Notes." He states, "I don't know a jazzman who hasn't owned, borrowed, or Xeroxed pages from a Real Book at least once in his career," and he quotes John Voigt, Berklee's music librarian, "The Real Book came out around 1971. The only material available in print then was crap." Another feature surfaced on April 10, 1994, in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
article, "Flying Below the Radar of Copyrights." Manhattan guitarist Bill Wurtzel is quoted as saying, "Everyone has one, but no one knows where they come from." The writer of the article, Michael Lydon, says that "I got mine in 1987 from a bassist who lives in Queens and who attended the Berklee School of Music in Boston; many in jazz circles suspect that students there reproduced the first copies of it in the mid-70's."
The most recent development has been the RealBookSoftware that contains all four transpositions (C, B, E, bass). This for-profit version allows musicians to sort or find charts by song title, artist, genre/style, key, or tempo and can be embedded with the original recordings for quick reference.
Music sequencing software Steinberg Cubase
Steinberg Cubase
Cubase is a music software product developed by Steinberg for music recording, arranging and editing as part of a Digital Audio Workstation. It is one of the oldest DAWs to still enjoy widespread use...
has "Real Book" as a choice in Page Mode Setting, meaning that the key signature would be displayed only once at the top of the page in the notated sheet music, as is the style in the fake book.
History of the 'new' Real Book
In 2005, the world's largest print music publisher, Hal Leonard, obtained the rights to most of the tunes contained in the original Real Book and published the first legal edition, calling it the Real Book Sixth Edition in tacit acknowledgment of the five previous illegal versions. The cover and binding are identical to the 'old' Real Book, and the books even employ a font which is remarkably similar to the handwritten style of the originals although the new editions are more legible. The other main improvements are that most of the editing mistakes have been corrected; and, of course, every tune has been licensed and the composers are being paid for the use of their music. The books were initially priced cheaper than the illegal ones were usually sold for—with the stated intention of driving the underground distributors out of business or boosting their own sales of the book. As of July 2006 the price has been increased.Hal Leonard subsequently released The Real Book, Volume II, Second Edition in answer to the Real Book, Volume II. In July 2006 they released The Real Book, Volume III, Second Edition, and in December 2010, The Real Book, Volume IV. The Real Vocal Book, Volume I, Second Edition also appeared recently, clearly a (more legible) response to the old book of similar title.
These books contain much, but not all, of the same material as their counterparts; and in most cases, but not all, charts from the new Hal Leonard books are compatible with the Real Book charts. In some cases, compatibility issues occur where corrections have been made to some of the infamous mistakes in the 5th edition charts; in other cases, 6th edition charts may reference changes on better or more authoritative recordings.
The Hal Leonard edition has had a few printings where the publisher has corrected the lead sheets, yet they still published the changed books as the sixth edition.
As of June, 2011, Hal Leonard had released other Real Books - The Real Rock Book, The Real Blues Book, The Real Dixieland Book, The Real Bluegrass Book, The Real Bud Powell Book, The Real Duke Ellington Book, and The Real Christmas Book, all using the same format as the original Real Book.
Other Real Books
The New Real Book, also in 3 volumes, published by Sher Music Co., is another legal and readily available modern alternative. The collection of tunes in it differs from the original Real Book, but this edition offers some of the same songs, in new transcriptions and a different notation.Some other music publishers also apply the term Real Book to their own publications - for example, the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music
Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music
ABRSM is an internationally recognised educational body and charity that provides examinations in music The organisation, based in London, UK, runs exams in centres all over the world...
publishes The AB Real Book. Alfred Publishing Co.
Alfred Publishing
Alfred Music Publishing is a family-owned and operated music publishing company, founded in 1922. Headquartered in Van Nuys, Los Angeles, California, it is the largest educational music publisher in the world.- Profile :...
has three real books.
External links
- Transposable Chord Charts to hundreds of Real Book Tunes.
- MyRealBook.com - Most of the charts included in the three Real Books, in clean PDF format, for C, Bb and Eb instruments (legal, no melodies).
- Song Index (covers dozens of fake books and real books, legal and illegal)
- Pop Song Piracy, Fake Books, and a Pre-history of Sampling - Article by Barry Kernfeld
- Links to audio samples of the Real Book
- Exhaustive Searchable Real Book Index - Find out what tunes are in which books.