Exploring the history and impact of the iconic 'real book' among jazz musicians, from its illegal beginnings to becoming a staple for gig preparation. The chapter traces the evolution of jazz music education, the challenges faced by musicians, and the creation of a contemporary jazz fake book to meet the needs of aspiring jazz artists.
Since the mid-1970s, almost every jazz musician has owned a copy of the same book. It has a peach-colored cover, a chunky, 1970s-style logo, and a black plastic binding. It’s delightfully homemade-looking—like it was printed by a bunch of teenagers at a Kinkos. And inside is the sheet music for hundreds of common jazz tunes—also known as jazz “standards”—all meticulously notated by hand. It’s called the Real Book. But if you were going to music school in the 1970s, you couldn’t just buy a copy of the Real Book at the campus bookstore. Because the Real Book... was illegal. The world’s most popular collection of Jazz music was a totally unlicensed publication. The full story of how the Real Book came to be this bootleg bible of jazz is a complicated one. It’s a story about what happens when an insurgent, improvisational art form like Jazz gets codified and becomes something that you can learn from a book.
The Real Book
This episode originally aired in April 2021
Roman note: I love this episode. An all time favorite. Pass it along to someone jazzy if so inclined.