Customer Reviews

The Real Little Ultimate Jazz Fake Book: C Edition (Fake Books)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book is a miniture version of Hal Leonard Corporation's "The Ultimate Jazz Fakebook". It's got all the same songs, it's just notebook sized.

I'm returning my copy because a) I already have the larger version and b) even with my glasses on, it's just too small to read on a music stand

I've never seen a fake book with so many inaccuracies. "So What", the Miles Davis standard, is presented in D dorian with the chords half a step too high for the melody. "Song for My Father" appears in 2/4 time, with the A section being one measure (two counts) short. "Basin Street Blues" appears without chord changes. There are plenty of bad chord choices in this book that don't come anywhere near fitting the melody. Furthermore, with "over 625 songs", omitted are such essential jazz standards as "Stardust", "I Got Rhythm", "Blue Bossa"... instead you get tunes like "Frosty the Snow Man" and pop tunes by Carole Bayer Sager. I gave up referring to this book a long time ago. I don't doubt that there are other mistakes I haven't come across. About as useful as a dictionary with misspelled words.

This doesn't have every song in the Jazz repetoire that I've wanted to learn, but it comes as close as I can imagine- it gets so many key songs from so many eras its hard to complain. Oddly, it's probably weakest with material from the pre-swing years, where many of the tunes are public domain, but, I can't make it more than two or three pages without thinking, "Yeah, I'll have to learn that one, too." And the chord choices are particularly strong- something that hasn't impressed me with other fake books. Yep. This is the one to get if you want to build up your repetoire.

As an intermediate piano student eager to learn about jazz chord voicings, this book has proven valuable and has expanded my knowledge of music and ability to play with others. The book has also introduced me to jazz interpretations of standards, popular songs and Broadway tunes. I've been able to take it with me and use it to accompany vocalists where there is no set agenda and always find plenty to play. The type size is very small but if I want to work on one song alot or use with others I just enlarge it through photocopies. I hope others in this series are as good.

When I first bought this book i was starting out in Jazz and figured I'd be able to use this book to learn alot of rep.
Unfortunately many requested jazz standards are omitted in this version which was very frustrating for me. I had to eventually buy the The real book (now legally published by Hal Leonard Corp) to complete the many missing standards. If all you do is jazz, this is not the book for you. If you play some jazz but round up the gig with other songs this is a good book - It's got a few country classics, pop tunes, songs from musicals and xmas tunes.

Truly a handy reference book that is easy to grab off the shelf, or stuff in a bag to go. No one in his or her right mind would try to read from it on a music stand at a jam session, for the print is tiny. It lacks a few tunes that you would expect to find in it; and it includes some tunes that you would not expect to find. Nonetheless, the book brims with more than enough way cool tunes. It has come to my rescue again and again, which makes it a favorite little book. If you know your chords and have a good ear, you can fill in the blanks when the changes become simplified. It's a fine guide.

I belive this is a great book. It's got all the great jazz tunes like "In The Mood","Fly Me To the Moon", and many, many more. It's got over six hundered, SIX HUNDRED SONGS, packed into this book. I encourage all trumpet players who play jazz to buy this book.

This product truly is a fake. Why? Because it is sooo small that you cannot read the music while attempting to play the music. When I opened the book and saw how small the type was, the only thought that came to mind was that it was not a fake book but a scam. IWANT MY MONEY BACK!

Being new to "Fake" books I wasn't sure what to expect. I was attracted to this because of its titles which are many. If you're into playing jazz and big band standards, this book is very comprehensive. I would say that most of the songs don't seem to be "complete" and are a shortened version but they do include at least the main verse of lyrics. I guess the idea is that if they give you the main body of the song you can "fake" it from there. For one book to cover so many titles, its pretty amazing the scope of the book actually. I would however suggest that having a copier with an enlargement feature as a good idea if you are going to use the songs to learn from because the format is pretty small to use as a normal course of things.

I like that it has a lot of well-known titles, it is relatively small and easy to pack and that it has lyrics.

Man this thing has a lot of songs. It includes Christmas songs and some folk songs. The only thing I don't like about it is the print is a little small. But that is one reason the price was so good.