Customer Reviews

The Hal Leonard Real Jazz Standards Fake Book: C Edition (Fake Books)

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Although I cannot recommend this book, it is not totally without its merits. It is one of the few "true" fake books that includes the actual introductions to the standards; most fake books on the market contain only the 32-bar body of the song. The handwritten script is also very clean and neat and makes for easy reading. Unfortunately, although the songs included are Jazz Standards, the arrangments are not really jazz arrangments. The arranger has substituted chords in place of the traditionally published chords in an apparent effort to give a jazz flavor. Not only are the chords not really jazz chords (they are harmonically weak and seldom will you encounter a chord with more than a 7th extension) but in many cases are harmonically inferior to the "original" chord. The song selection is also rather pedestrian and most of the songs can be found in other books by the same publisher

I grew up with the original "3 song to a page" fake book, graduated to the original Real Book, the Unreal book, and the "New Real Book" 3 volume set. This one tops them all - complete songs (not just the choruses) with lyrics, and both the original chords and suggested reharmonizations (which I find are often not as good as the composers' original chords).

Just as importantly, this is an incredible colection of songs, including many that I haven't found anywhere else. I've stopped dog-earing the pages of songs I like, as it got to the point where the corner of almost every page was turned down!

I've just ordered the "C" version, after being sold on this book by the "Bb" version, which I stumbled across in a mainstream bookstore, since the "Bb" version puts many songs into key signatures with 4 or 5 sharps or flats - playable, but harder than they have to be.

This is a classic fake book--just chords and the melody line. It's got most of the old jazz standards, and is not for those looking for 80's or 90's tunes! I'm returning to jazz piano after a 20-year absence, and this book is perfect for me.

I have fake books starting back from the 1950's when they were essentially underground, illegal publications that musicians put together and distributed somehow. They were poorly printed, had lots of errors, mundane chord progressions and the songs were printed tiny so I can barely read them any more with my 69 year old eyes. They have been getting better and better over the years and, of course, now they are legal.

This book is printed with high quality, large sized, easy to read fonts and is a pleasure to use. It has a nice selection of songs, some are seldom published which is a nice surprise from the usual common selections. Many of the chords have alternative suggestions printed so you can take your pick which you like best. I enjoy using it.

It is not perfect however and it seems like there are more errors that usual for this kind of book. Also, I don't actually know who selected the alternative chords but in most cases, the original ones seem to sound best.

Be aware that this is probably not the best book for a beginner learning to use fake books/lead sheets.

Overall, even though it isn't perfect (I like the Warner Brothers Real books better), I'm glad I have it, I use it a lot and it is well worth the money.

It's a good addition to my pile of music.