Fake Book suggestions

[BWV]

Looking for a single fakebook with only GASB standards and bebop heads to practice from with bare minimum but correct chord changes - any suggestions?

[AllanAllen]

There will be plenty of opinions, but Hal Leonard is the standard.

[Bflat233]

There will be plenty of opinions, but Hal Leonard is the standard.

You won't go wrong if you start with Volume 1 Sixth Edition.

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

…but correct chord changes

I doubt that there’s even one fake book with no controversial changes in it. Some are pure transcription errors, while others are errors of memory. But many more are common variants. Some come from recordings by well known and liked players who reharmonized the originals and are so closely associated with their versions that they’re thought to be the originals.

In truth, we don’t even know the “original” changes for many commonly played tunes. If multiple players are using fakebooks on the same tune, it’s much more important to be sure they’re all using the same changes than it is to know that what you have is the original version.

[Mick-7]

There will be plenty of opinions, but Hal Leonard is the standard.

That's debatable, they do publish the Real Books.

But I like this collection from them (I have the 1st edition of it), because it shows both the purported original changes and the common jazz chord substitutes. I think I got my pdf of it via a trial Scribd subscription -- Leonard Real Jazz Standards-Fakebook - Amazon.com

Re: bebop heads, the Charlie Parker Omnibook is a given.

[AllanAllen]

, it’s much more important to be sure they’re all using the same changes than it is to know that what you have is the original version.

I dunno man, does it really matter if the band goes from Eb to F- or Eb to Ab on Four?

I don’t think so. I think “playing the same changes” sort of kills jazz.

I guess the Miles Davis bridge for when lights are low against the Carter original might be an issue.

It all depends on subs or rearranging the tune.

[buduranus2]

Looking for a single fakebook with only GASB standards and bebop heads to practice from with bare minimum but correct chord changes - any suggestions?

Not for heads, but for correct changes the authoritative source is Ralph Patt's "The Vanilla Book." The Vanilla Book (Index is at the bottom of the home page.)

[wintermoon]

I used to get sheet music from the library, they have the original folios in the original keys.
The 'problem' w them is they're usually vocal tunes from shows or movies and not in the 'instrumental' keys most players use.
I think the illegal Real Books that one used to get from 'under the counter' @ music shops were first compiled by bassist Steve Swallow @ Berklee though sometimes credited to Gary Burton and Pat Metheny.

[alltunes]

Someone recently on a thread here posted a link to a PDF called Bob’s Book or something like that and it really looked good. Unadorned chords melodies and clean typeset for all the biggies.

[rpjazzguitar]

The original RB from Berklee has a lot of standards and a lot of bop heads.

There are well documented disagreements with the changes. Sometimes it's a simple fix, other times an endless loop.

The Leonard version Vol I is probably a good choice for the OP.

Whatever changes you play it's a good idea to have all the instruments be compatible. That can be accomplished by reading the same chart, or, adjusting to variations on the fly. The latter takes a good ear.

[AllanAllen]

Here’s all the opinions I told you about.

But I guarantee, if you go to a jam, it’ll be the Hal Leonard real book on everyone’s tablet.

[pamosmusic]

You won't go wrong if you start with Volume 1 Sixth Edition.

You almost certainly go wrong, but you'll mostly be right. And where you're wrong, everyone else will be wrong in the same direction.

EDIT: I'm kidding here. Or I guess it's strictly speaking true, but playing what everyone else is playing is the meaningful part for having a good experience with other people, so no one really gives a crap about the accuracy outside of the real cork-sniffers (of which I am, admittedly, one). My real advice would be probably grabbing the first Real Book and poking around for some of the really top notch stuff if you have a niche you really want to get into. The Cardenas Monk Fake Book if you're into Monk, for example. Charlie Parker for Guitar, etc.

[pamosmusic]

Here’s all the opinions I told you about.

But I guarantee, if you go to a jam, it’ll be the Hal Leonard real book on everyone’s tablet.

This is true.

Maybe closer now is iReal for changes and ear for melodies?

I think every jam I've been to outside NYC has iReal up on a stand for the common good.

In terms of accuracy, the New Real Books from Sher seem to be really really really good. I have two of them. They have a fairly unusual assortment of tunes though. So you'd get extremely accurate transcriptions with reference recordings, but be missing some absolutely basic jam session staples without two or three volumes. Real Book (new and copyrighted) will be close and will have pretty much all you'd need to have a pleasant two hours with other players.

[alltunes]

Looking for a single fakebook with only GASB standards and bebop heads to practice from with bare minimum but correct chord changes - any suggestions?

I found it…it is called “The New Bob Book”

https://jstreetjazz.com/FakeBooks/The_New_Bob_Book.pdf

[rpjazzguitar]

What's been happening lately at some sessions I've been to is that everybody, or almost everybody, has an Ipad and we're air dropping charts. It seems quicker to do that than go around the room verifying that everybody has the same chart. But, these are not sessions where the players want to be playing out of one book.

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

I think the illegal Real Books that one used to get from 'under the counter' @ music shops were first compiled by bassist Steve Swallow @ Berklee though sometimes credited to Gary Burton and Pat Metheny.

The first illegal fake books became available in the late 1950s. They were in loose leaf notebooks and had no names. I got my first one for $10 from my dealer in ‘58 or ‘59. He made me pick them up through the back door after store hours. I still have mine.

Swallow and Metheny were the unofficial faculty advisors to a few Berklee students who compiled the first Real Books starting in the early & mid ‘70s to provide sources more useful to students and working musicians in a standardized format. The name was an inside joke, and I don’t remember what the joke was. They apparently only intended to make enough for Berklee people, but the books were copied widely and took off as bootlegs of bootlegs.

It was only about 25 years ago that Hal Leonard managed to get permission from all the rights owners to publish a legal Real Book.

[JazzPadd]

This is a valuable question and I’m enjoying suggestions so far.

Maybe goal and context matter. Different people play jazz for different reasons and in various settings. For casual spontaneous social settings to play jazz with others, such as jam sessions, having a common baseline can help. Here in Japan, the venues hosting open jam sessions have the Jazz Standard Bible on hand, and most players have at least Vol. 1, which has a good blend of about 250 lead sheets, from GAS standards, bop heads, blues and bossa to funk and crossover and beyond. It seems correct enough for that particular purpose. But it might also depend on what one wants to do with jazz, and with whom.

Having said that, I also have a collection of song books, including an old Real Book that I got from a Berklee student in the 1980s, which referenced the recordings (some old timers here still have their old dog-eared copy from when they studied at Berklee). I also have six volumes of the recent RB, as well as the Vanilla Book, and many others. A touring jazz musician from the US who was passing through Japan a while back gave me a flash drive with a couple dozen PDF books. I enjoy having different versions of songs on hand, especially for working up solo arrangements.

Whatever you settle on, use it in good health and have some fun!

[wintermoon]

The first illegal fake books became available in the late 1950s. They were in loose leaf notebooks and had no names. I got my first one for $10 from my dealer in ‘58 or ‘59. He made me pick them up through the back door after store hours. I still have mine.

Swallow and Metheny were the unofficial faculty advisors to a few Berklee students who compiled the first Real Books starting in the early & mid ‘70s to provide sources more useful to students and working musicians in a standardized format. The name was an inside joke, and I don’t remember what the joke was. They apparently only intended to make enough for Berklee people, but the books were copied widely and took off as bootlegs of bootlegs.

It was only about 25 years ago that Hal Leonard managed to get permission from all the rights owners to publish a legal Real Book.

Yeah, I was referring to the popular Real Book that most people know. I got mine back in the day from your buddies @ 8th St Music. I remember at first they acted like they didn't know what I was talking about before they reached behind the counter.
I guess they thought the kid was some copyright lawyer.

[GuyBoden]

Not for heads, but for correct changes the authoritative source is Ralph Patt's "The Vanilla Book." The Vanilla Book (Index is at the bottom of the home page.)

"the authoritative source is Ralph Patt's "The Vanilla Book.""

Is this true?

[John A.]

The name was an inside joke, and I don’t remember what the joke was.

The joke is just “those are fake books, but this is the REAL book, man”. Swallow talks about it in interviews. Nothing particularly inside or obscure about it. Maybe the mistakes and reharmonizations are actually inside jokes (despite being pretty out there).

[BWV]

Thanks for all the comments - I have an old Hal Leonard ‘Real Jazz Book’ from the 90s which prompted the OP - wanted something to practice sight reading and harmonization and there were too many fusion tunes and it seemed the chords were over- complex (subs and written-out extensions)

mostly I use MuseScore and other PDF sources, but wanted a physical book to read through

ordered the Sher Standards Real Book, will see how that goes

[AllanAllen]

"the authoritative source is Ralph Patt's "The Vanilla Book.""

Is this true?

Not really, the authoritative source is the recordings, but even those can be fluid. Jazz isn't about playing the same changes chorus after chorus, a turnaround is a turnaround and I VI II V can easily be subbed for III VI II V or a long II V or just a static V, or VII bVII VI bVII V.

Also, Pettiford changed the melody of Tricotism a little bit every time he recorded it. So even if you "correct" the Real Book against a recording, you don't guarantee you have the tune right because right is fluid.

[pamosmusic]

Not really, the authoritative source is the recordings, but even those can be fluid. Jazz isn't about playing the same changes chorus after chorus, a turnaround is a turnaround and I VI II V can easily be subbed for III VI II V or a long II V or just a static V, or VII bVII VI bVII V.

My little boy is all grown up.

(wipes tear from cheek)

[RLetson]

The jazz guys I sat in with had a mix of iReal (they're all iPadders), "legal" digital and paper Real Books (some of the paper pretty tattered), and they could air-drop new charts as needed. FWIW, in the six years I sat in, I used the PDFs of the ancient Real Books indexed for iGigBook (Android version) and didn't have any serious problems keeping up--for the changes, anyway.

Not that it addresses the OP's issue, but before I had Real Books, I depended on the Frank Mantooth Best Chord Changes books, in part because they are based on historical originals (there are footnotes!) and have alternate changes in red. There's an OP Dick Hyman volume that covers 100 stadards but also offers substitutions. I wouldn't bring either to a gig, but they're very useful for understanding the bones of a tune and for working out arrangements.

[AllanAllen]

My little boy is all grown up.

(wipes tear from cheek)

I'm even buying books now