Don't trust the Real Book

[targuit]

So who decided that certain tunes must be written on stone tablets handed down at the base of the mountainside?

I often find the Hal Leonard Real Ultimate Jazz Fakebook that I purchased in the early Eighties to be just fine as a suggestion. With the advent of YouTube and other sites you often can listen to certain artists' interpretations and then you take it from there.

I certainly play Autumn Leaves in various keys. Dm and Em for comfortable vocal range, Gm for instrumental interpretation. I don't believe in 'mandatory keys'. Especially given that a female singer will often want a different key than a male singer. Vive la difference!

[KirkP]

Actually, Autumn Leaves was written in E minor and most early recordings are in that key. My hunch is that it was Miles and Cannonball's version on Something Else that influenced others to record the tune in G minor (perhaps Cannonball was playing a concert chart on his alto and they all decided to transpose).

Thanks for the correction. I should have done a fact check before posting.

It doesn't change my conclusion though. If I can't play a tune in any key and if I'm limited to the harmonization in a particular fake book, I haven't really learned it.

P.S., Here's an interesting history & analysis of the tune:
http://www.crj-online.org/v4/CRJ-AutumnLeaves.php

It's credited to Phillipe Baudoin, who I believe is also the author of "Anthology des Grilles de Jazz":
http://www.jazzbanjo.nl/files/Anthol...z_3mt5jg22.pdf

[PMB]

One useful fake book is "Antholgie des Grilles de Jazz" (a.k.a., the "Jazz Chord Grid Anthology"). It includes no melodies, but the chords seem to be based on early recordings of the tunes, not the reharmonizations you'll typically find in the major fake books. I think it's availalbe in pdf form.

That is a pretty amazing and comprehensive resource. Another series worth checking out is Dick Hyman's books, 100 Tunes and 100 More Tunes as he annotates some of the later reharms and melodic alterations.

For all that, they're a research tool as far as I'm concerned. I'm an experienced reader but try to avoid having charts up on stage. Looks bad, people don't listen intently and things get reduced to a default set of changes. As for the iReal charts, some of those changes are perverse and you're left having to follow them unless you want to sound like the guy making all the wrong moves.

[Cunamara]

Yes. And base your first work when starting out on a song you can buy on iTunes and practice note for note with and of course expand upon. Why expand upon ballpark arrangements when you can start out with something that works. I just don't get it.

The jazz greats could almost to a person hear the tune and play it. There's a story about Johnny Smith, who was one of the best reading guitarists ever- he could read a piano score on guitar on sight. Someone played him a Barney Kessel recording and asked him what he thought; he replied "play it again" and proceeded to play along with the recording note for note. Duke Ellington taught his band their parts by demonstrating them on piano- "you play this, you play that." That was how jazz musicians used to learn quite frequently- on the bandstand, in rehearsal bands, etc. Bandleaders might call a tune in any key on any night. Those opportunities for developing the ear to that level are few and far between these days- hence fake books.

[christianm77]

The jazz greats could almost to a person hear the tune and play it. There's a story about Johnny Smith, who was one of the best reading guitarists ever- he could read a piano score on guitar on sight. Someone played him a Barney Kessel recording and asked him what he thought; he replied "play it again" and proceeded to play along with the recording note for note. Duke Ellington taught his band their parts by demonstrating them on piano- "you play this, you play that." That was how jazz musicians used to learn quite frequently- on the bandstand, in rehearsal bands, etc. Bandleaders might call a tune in any key on any night. Those opportunities for developing the ear to that level are few and far between these days- hence fake books.

This is the kind of thing I aspire to.

I think you can make a decision not to use fake books, I know some musicians who made this decision early on. But you will suck at first!

It's difficult, I know plenty of pro jazzers who can't transpose standards, but can sight read anything. The second skill is easier to develop these days. But some musicians have amazing ears.