The Real Book: Sixth Edition [Plastic Comb]

Hal Leonard Corporation (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2004

The Real Books are the best-selling jazz books of all time. Since the 1970s, musicians have trusted these volumes to get them through every gig, night after night. The problem is that the books were illegally produced and distributed, without any regard to copyright law, or royalties paid to the composers who created these musical masterpieces. Hal Leonard is very proud to present the first legitimate and legal editions of these books ever produced. You won't even notice the difference, other than that all of the notorious errors have been fixed: the covers and typeface look the same, the song list is nearly identical, and the price for our edition is even cheaper than the original! Every conscientious musician will appreciate that these books are now produced accurately and ethically, benefitting the songwriters that we owe for some of the greatest tunes of all time! Includes 400 songs: All Blues * Au Privave * Autumn Leaves * Black Orpheus * Bluesette * Body and Soul * Bright Size Life * Con Alma * Dolphin Dance * Don't Get Around Much Anymore * Easy Living * Epistrophy * Falling in Love with Love * Footprints * Four on Six * Giant Steps * Have You Met Miss Jones? * How High the Moon * I'll Remember April * Impressions * Lullaby of Birdland * Misty * My Funny Valentine * Oleo * Red Clay * Satin Doll * Sidewinder * Stella by Starlight * Take Five * There Is No Greater Love * Wave * and hundreds more!

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Founded in 1947, Hal Leonard Corporation has become the worlds largest print music publisher, representing some of the greatest songwriters and artists of all time. We are proud to publish titles of interest to all musicians as well as music lovers, from songbooks and instructional titles to artist biographies and instrument price guides to books about the music industry and all the performing arts.

Product Details

Sample Music Notation [29kb PDF]

• Plastic Comb: 462 pages
• Publisher: Hal Leonard Corporation; 6th edition (September 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0634060384
• ISBN-13: 978-0634060380
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (80 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,058 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #4 in Books > Arts & Photography > Music > Songbooks
  • #13 in Books > Arts & Photography > Music > Theory, Composition & Performance > Sheet Music & Scores

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

153 of 154 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great music, may become the new standard for gigs!, November 5, 2004

By 

Kay Emm Gee - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Real Book: Sixth Edition (Plastic Comb)

Take note, this book contains no lyrics, thankfully.

Like many musicians I have owned a copy of the, "Real Book 5th Edition" for a long time. I use it at rehearsals, I take it to gigs, and over years of use it has received a lot a wear and tear. As you may know the, "Real Book 5th Edition" is a home made publication, it is not available to the general public it is sold by musicians to musicians. Consequently finding a copy is very difficult, and replacing a worn out copy is just as difficult. Despite its limited availability it is used by musicians all over the world and has become a standard piece of equipment any jazz gig.

Hal-Leonard's "Real Book 6th Edition", at first glance, appears to a fully licensed duplicate of the, "Real Book 5th Edition" however, it is NOT.

The cover is the same, the type set is the same, many of the songs are the same, and most of the keys match the, "Real Book 5th Edition." Unfortunately, many important songs are missing including: "Gentle Rain", "Pennsativa", "Green Dolphin St.", "Days of Wine & Roses", "Spain", "A Foggy Day", and all frank Zappa songs. Some great songs have been added including: "Whispering", "Nuage", "Topsy", "That's Amore", "Easter Parade", "When You Wish Upon a Star", and many more. A few songs appear in a different key than the, "5th Edition" including: "Windows" and "Here's That Rainy Day." There are also some corrections including: "Blue Train" changed from Cm blues to Eb blues; "Equinox" changed from Cm to C#m; the chords to "Four" have been 'corrected'; the bass lines of "So What" and "Maiden" have also been corrected.

The result of Hal-Leonard's efforts gives us a great fake book which is easy to read and easy to buy. The song selection is great, but it is different form the, "5th Edition" this will present a problem when someone on a gig calls, "Conference of the Birds" or any other song not in this book.

What made the, "Real Book 5th Edition" a standard for so many years was the fact that it was one of a kind. Each song had it's own page, the type set was large and clear, the chords were simple and to the point, the songs listed were ones that musicians played, and the arrangements were streamlined (but accurate), for years this was the only book that used this style.

Today, however, many fake books published by Warner Brother, Sher Music, and Hal-Leonard use this style. Consequently great music and quality arrangements are easily accessible to all musicians. There is no longer a need for the, "Real Book 5th Edition" it has been replaced by fully legal and more accurate publications. Hal-Leonard's, "Real Book 6th Edition" is another one of the new generation fake books.

I hope all the songs missing from the, "Sixth Edition" appear in books 2 or 3 which are due out soon.

38 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More Legal and More Useful, November 15, 2004

By 

Mr. Biscuit (MA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Real Book: Sixth Edition (Plastic Comb)

This "sixth edition" is a welcome sight. At this price it's more affordable to musicians, and you don't need to feel like you're buying some pot from the music store by asking for it in hushed tones.

The differences between this and the bootleg fifth edition Real Book are substantial - many tunes are incompatable between the two, so you cannot mix the books as you could with older editions of the Real Book. But as this new one contains the correct changes and forms (including those notorious missing 4 bars in Desafinado, the correct changes for Dolphin Dance, and the omission of the mystery "turnaround" we've long ignored in the 4th bar of the bridge of Satin Doll) it's really a better book for new players, and will be enlightening to say the least for veteran players who've been playing these songs wrong all these years.

Not all the songs are here: some, like the Zappa and Sun Ra tunes, obviously were not cleared by the copyright owners; others which never are really played are omitted as well, like "Perfect Love". What replaces them are tunes which are far more useful to the gigging player, classic standards and others which were never in the Real Book but should have been. An internet search will easily turn up the tune list - if you absolutely need the tunes not in there anymore, you're out of luck unless you keep your old copy too.

I don't think the transposed versions are available at this writing. Of course, if you can transpose that's no bother at all. Hopefully they will be out soon. Once they are, this can truly replace the illegal book at about half the cost and with more useful tunes for the player.

85 of 94 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Close but no cigar!, February 23, 2006

By 

CalisSaxMan "calisaxman" (Hollywood, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Real Book: Sixth Edition (Plastic Comb)

It's about time someone attempted to publish a 'legal' version of the 'illegal' Real Book, the standard text that virtually all jazz musicians use to enable them to play together. But it's unfortunate that Hal Leonard was the company to do it, because they still have not gotten it right. For those that don't know, rumour has it that the original Real Book (editions 1 thru 5) were originally created by music students at the legendary Berklee School Of Music, who began transcribing the heads (melodies)and chord progressions of the jazz standards that they most often played and binding them into a book that they xeroxed and shared amongst each other. The only problem is that they never got permission from the composers/publishers of the music and consequently never paid any royalties to said composers/publishers.

When comparing the 'illegal' 5th edition of the Real Book to the new 'legal' 6th edition, the first thing you notice is that several songs are missing from Hal Leonard's 6th edition. I assume that's because Leonard & Co. was not able to get the rights for some songs, or couldn't get them at a rate that would still allow them to achieve the profit margin they were shooting for. Though disappointing, that's perfectly understandable.

However, what I can't understand is why they decided to publish several songs in different keys than they were originally presented in the 5th edition. Yes, John Coltrane originally recorded "Equinox" in the key of concert C#, but for years it's been played by what what must be millions of jazz players the world over in the key of C, as it appeared in the original Real Book. Instead of following what the 5th edition did, Leonard chose to publish it in C# in the new 6th edition. Though I'm sure more and more people will eventually buy this new 'legal' version, it doesn't change the fact that millions of people still own the old book and therefore countless numbers of people will continue to want to play it in the 5th edition key, either by reading or from memory. So why change the key, making the legal and illegal books incompatible? Or, if your sense of order compels you to publish the originally recorded C# key, why not include a second version in the 5th edition key of C, so that everyone has a choice and can be on the same page?

One of the things that people have always complained about regarding the illegal 5th edition (and those that preceeded it) is that the sheets are full of notation errors. Some have been corrected through the years, but the number of errors still abound. The musicians usually hand correct them themselves as they come across them, or just remember where the errors are and adjust accordingly. One of the exciting things about Leonard's legal version it that it advertised that it was completely accurate, correcting all the prior errors. Nothing could be further from the truth! I'm sure there are corrections that have been made, but the Hal Leonard version is still full of errors, and it's both appalling and completely unacceptable for a company as large and sophisticated as Hal Leonoard Publishing to have released such shoddy work. They didn't even insure that all the songs are correctly arranged alphabetically in the book!

Having said all that, there are three things that Hal Leonard's new 6th edition has going for it:
1 - It's cheaper than the illegal version, which usually run about $35.00 each. Amazon sells the concert key version for less than $20.00.
2 - The type is clearer and just a bit easier to read.
3 - Last but most importantly, the composers of these great tunes are actually getting paid, as they should be.

It can be argued that reason 3 (paying the composers) is more than enough reason to buy this version over the illegal version, and I have to agree with that, but be that as it may, it's still quite saddening that, after waiting all this time for a company to publish a legal version of this legendary text, they still couldn't do a competent job.