The Real Book - Volume II (C Instruments): C Instruments 2nd Edition (Fake Book) [Plastic Comb]

Hal Leonard Corporation (Author)

Book Description

Series: Fake Book | Publication Date: June 1, 2005

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 copyright

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: 416 pages
• Publisher: Hal Leonard; 2nd edition (June 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 063406021X
• ISBN-13: 978-0634060212
• Product Dimensions: 11.2 x 9.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #61,832 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential and Convenient ! ! !, October 2, 2005

By 

Eddie Landsberg "My 10th year as a reviewer !... (Tokyo, Japan) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Real Book - Volume II (C Instruments): C Instruments 2nd Edition (Fake Book) (Plastic Comb)

If you're a student of Jazz, or a serious Jazz musician, while the REAL BOOK V.1 set the standard for years, V2 is the one that I find REALLY has the best tunes (and even in its bootleg edition was written with much better changes.) - - I host and play up to 300 sessions a year and would go so far as to say that not only does the bulk of my repoitoire come from the REAL BOOK SERIES (1, 2 and 3) but that a very high portion has come from V2, especially considering that until this "legal" edition it was twice as hard to find as the hard to find V1. Trust me on this... If you live in terror of playing or hosting a session and having millions of tunes thrown at you that you don't know, get these three books... In your spare time work on the tunes, and when you're on the bandstand make sure all three are within convenient reach.

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful job. Wish I knew which actual human being to thank., September 21, 2005

By 

George Kaplan - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Real Book - Volume II (C Instruments): C Instruments 2nd Edition (Fake Book) (Plastic Comb)

I'm probably the world champ of fakebook collectors, starting with a complete (and highly illegal) Real Book collection in 1978. I've really appreciated what the Sher folks have been up to, as well as that Stang fellow over at Warner Pubs. This sure is the golden age for accurate and lovingly compiled fakebooks! I've made countless discoveries of unknown (to me) tunes thanks to them.

So, I was actually reluctant to pick this one up, even at its ridiculously low price. But I finally caved last week and I'm glad I did. What a beautiful job. Clear, easy on the eyes and with accurate melodies and changes. For example, in 2 pages this book transmits the complete structure of Zawinul's Birdland (not a favorite of mine) with all of its sections intact. Wonderful.

And this book includes a large number of tunes that (to my knowledge) have not appeared in other fakebooks. You're going to spend a lot of rewarding hours with this one.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The real thing, January 8, 2007

By 

T. Rutt "dad/theologian/musician" (CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Real Book - Volume II (C Instruments): C Instruments 2nd Edition (Fake Book) (Plastic Comb)

What I love most about this book is its design. Veterans know that fake books are frequently a combination of handwritten, poorly-photocopied, cut-and-pasted, inconsistently-sized charts along with chord naming conventions that go all over the place (an E minor chord can read as Em, e, E-, etc. in the same book.)

The Real Book series (besides the advantage of excellent songs acquired with the proper rights) has a wonderful design. The staff lines are a consistent size; there is one song per page (or sometimes two pages, laid out so there's no flipping involved); chord naming conventions are consistent (it's "E-" throughout); and there is a lot of white space for a clean, clear look and room to pencil-in performance notes. It's easy and natural to go from one song to another without going through a lot of mental gymnastics and adjustments, as one would do in other fake books.

Plus, it's all done in a handwritten-looking font that gives it both a warm, handmade character and the feeling that you've acquired something surreptitious (like every fake book should be)!

The only problem is that the key is only indicated in the first measure of the first staff -- sharps and flats are not repeated at the beginning of the lower staffs, so it's sometimes a little hard to quickly remind yourself of what key you're in. Still, I'm having lots of fun with this.