Real Books are Bad for Your Ears

[cosmic gumbo]

The guys that say burn your real book probably read it in one of their 19 different jazz method books.

[DaveF]

No not really

[Jonzo]

I just saw some "pros" last week at a Sunday gig. These guys are all university professors. They had their noses in their real books the whole time looking up occasionally when not sure who had the next solo. It was the most boring music I've heard in several years. They were all decent players and they sounded like a bunch of guys who coincidentally were standing on the same stage playing the same tune at the same time. Zero energy and boring to look at to boot. Get rid of the books. They are evil I tell you.

Wow. A boring jazz performance. Shocking.

Must be the Real Books.

[Jonzo]

Sure pros play with charts sometimes...but doesn't say diddly about whether having a Real Book-focused approach is bad for your playing.

But it does refute the contention that great music cannot be made while reading a chart.

Is someone actually arguing that playing tunes out of a Real Book will harm your playing?

[JakeAcci]

Heh.

I saw this terrible performance once where the drummer was playing with a 13" high hat. Ugh it was awful, terrible time, not swinging at all.

Therefore, 13" high hats are awful for jazz.

[Nabil B]

The best players I've seen (on a video or in real life) sometimes looked at the charts when playing the head, but I don't recall seeing any of them use the charts when soloing. Real Books should be a last resort solution, when there isn't any other option available. I'm by no means a pro, but in my experience I play way better on tunes that I have internalized to the point where I don't have to think about the chords. If you need the real book to solo on a tune, then you obviously aren't going to be able to express the best of your creative self.

[Jonzo]

I have two kids, 14 and 16 years old. They got themselves a weekly gig. They are pretty good for their ages, but also the owner and patrons of the restaurant like seeing these young kids playing jazz (instead of out on the streets twerking and sexting). They take lessons, and participate in their school's jazz program. When they play their gig, they use the Real Book.

They have a few tunes memorized. As time goes on, they will memorize a lot of tunes through repetition, and they may target certain tunes for memorization. As more time goes on, and they get more gigs, they will memorize more tunes.

I just don't see memorization as a problem that needs to be solved.

[AlainJazz]

Ok guys, poke fun if you want but if someone is staring into a real book, they don't really know the tune well.

[TheGrandWazoo]

I think many folks are missing the point here. It's not Real Books are bad, it's that by learning a tune off a "record" helps to internalize the tune while also focusing your ears to work harder. The books serve a very good purpose but if you spend the time to learn the melody and chords by ear, you're learning a song AND getting done ear training and improving memory skills. That's all. Case closed. Lock this thread up. Nothing else here to pointlessly argue over anymore. Next...

[Jehu]

If we stop arguing on the internet does that mean we have to start practicing?

[coolvinny]

Well actually getting away from sheets is not about just ear training and memory skills, but maybe we all have to figure certain things out on our own. Based on some comments above, there is not much point discussing further.

[Jonzo]

I figured out that holding Real Books against the left and right side of my head is bad for my ears.