Real Book
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The Real Book can refer to any of a number of popular jazz fake books, but is generally used to refer to Volume 1 of a semi-underground series 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 copy 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 Bb, Eb, and C (concert-pitch) instruments, as well as a Bass clef edition. A band leader can literally call out page numbers, since each edition is also paginated identically.
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[edit] History of the 'old' (illegal) Real Book
Bassist Steve Swallow and pianist Paul Bley are rumored to have been responsible for producing lead sheets for the book. This would explain why compositions by Swallow, Bley, and their friends (e.g., Chick Corea) are heavily represented in The Real Book alongside jazz standards and classic jazz compositions. 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. Three volumes of The Real Book were produced — volumes 1 and 2 are 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. Or sold by that guy standing by the alley next to Store 24 across the street. PDF editions of the book are now often available on P2P networks.
The name could have been influenced by the Boston alternative weekly newspaper, The Real Paper, launched by writers of Boston's The Phoenix after a labor dispute, but is most likely a play on words from the common name for these types of songs folios - "fake book"
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 in 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. 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."
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.
The most current incarnation of Volume 1, 5th edition is the Electronic Real Book that contains all four transpositions (C,Bb,Eb,Bass). It allows the musician to sort or find charts by song title, artist, genre/style, concert key, or tempo and can be embedded with the original recordings for quick reference.
[edit] History of the 'new' (legal) 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. 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 at $25.00US — ten dollars cheaper than the illegal ones were usually sold for — with the stated intention[citation needed] of driving the underground distributors out of business. As of July 2006 the price has been increased to $29.96US.
Hal Leonard subsequently released The Real Book, Volume II, Second Edition in answer to the illegal Real Book, Volume II. In July 2006 they released The Real Book, Volume III, Second Edition. 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 illegal counterparts; and in most cases, but not all, charts from the new Hal Leonard books are compatible with the illegal Real Book charts. Some of these differences are noted in the Real Book Errata article.
[edit] Other Real Books
The New Real Book, also in 3 volumes, published by Sher Music, is another legal and readily available modern alternative. The collection of tunes in it diverges 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 publishes The AB Real Book.
