Customer Reviews

The Ultimate Jazz Fake Book (Fake Books) C Edition

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book has a fantastic selection of tunes. Its almost like THE REAL BOOKS 1 & 2 COMBINED plus THE NEW REAL BOOK only with those annoying commercial fake book chord changes. That is my major criticism... Basically what they do is give you chord changes that I guess are meant to help out players who aren't at the level where they can really reharmonize things on the spot, and need something quasi hip to play. The problem with that though is that people shouldn't really buy a fake book like this to LEARN how to play Jazz. You get a book like THE JAZZ THEORY BOOK (by Mark Levine) etc. etc. then apply that knowlege to the fake books. I think using a book like this as "instructional sheet music" (as a reviewer will occasionally imply to have done) actually hurt the aspiring Jazz student because they deprive him or her of the skill gained through instruction or experience of identifying basic Jazz forms (key to building repoitoire and improvisational ability). You just learn how to play specific songs and arrangements note for note - - and never learn how to think of the changes functionally in order to be able to improvise or accompany at a jam session or playing in an ensemble. Its really important for you to be able to look at a tune, tell what type of beast it is, then tackle it from that perspective... Hence, this is my main (and strong) criticism about the book : A good and functional fake book gives the musician the melody, the root of the chord, and its fundamental quality (major, minor, dom, etc.) - - after that, they *should* decide for themselves what type of extensions to or not to use - - - It is the musicians job to decide whether that C7 chord should really be played diminished, dominant, flat nine, raised nine, thirteenth - - But a book such as this will often jump the gun, for example not only won't it say C7 or C7b9, it'll say E diminished or something like that... Technically speaking it might be correct, but it distracts the improviser from the main point. (*and let me also say that in many ways this book is better than some of the others and even some of the non-commercially available professional fake books have these "errors" so these complaints aren't leveled exclusively against this book !)

This problem aside, if you DO know your basic Jazz forms, or are in the process of mastering them, I HIGHLY reccomend this book (and even if you're not, it IS an incredible book to futz around with). ...It offers an enormous wealth of tunes and definitely beats carrying along a brief case of fake books. Just carry a pencil with you. Just to give you a feel.. here are a few of the tunes in it...

Airegin All Blues Along Came Betty Angel Eyes Bag's Groove Be-Bop Bernie's Tune Billie's Bounce Bluesette Body And Soul Boplicity (Be Bop Lives) Caldonia (What Makes Your Big Head So Hard?) The Champ Cherokee Donna Lee Doodlin Jeannine Killer Joe Mercy, Mercy, Mercy Milestones

Minor Swing Nica's Dream A Night In Tunisia Oleo Parker's Mood Saturday Night Fish Fry Scrapple From The Apple Senor Blues Sister Sadie Song For My Father Sugar Twisted Walkin' Work Song

In summary, this is an excellent resource, just have a pencil in hand ! (In regard to the print, there are ways to deal with that problem. I'm glad I can fit it in my case !)

both the reviews above are accurate. there are some troublesome formatting issues with this book which lead it to be more useful for study and practice than for performance. and there are some tunes that, shall we say, stretch the idea of jazz (shake, rattle and roll?) . but that seems par for the course for a fake book to me. i liked the breadth of the collection, and have spent too many pleasant nights just browsing and playing things. if you're just starting to do jazz, it's a nice place to begin. also - guitarists - if you're looking to expand your chordal vocabulary, this book can be a fun way to do it.

This book has plenty of tunes,but presents them very poorly. The small print of the tunes and the placement of two on a page makes reading very testing for a musician. Also the chord changes on some tunes,the bebop tunes in particular,are wrong. This book is good for the casual player,but one who is looking for decent representation of the music should look into other sources.

This copious collection is made up of clear, well-conceived lead sheets. In general, they are melodically accurate and harmonically acceptable. Many of them also contain lyrics. Despite the title, however, the book contains a number of songs which are inconsistent with the idea of its being a jazz source. Such titles as "Jingle-Bell Rock", "Put On A Happy Face" and "Everything's Coming Up Roses" are, at best, gratuitous filler material. Also on the negative side, the lack of double bars and/or other delineations of form may cause less experienced seekers of musical treasures to experience some confusion. Otherwise, this is a valuable and highly economical reference, with tunes costing the buyer only about a half a cent each. My money was well spent.

This is a book worth buying only if you are a singer looking for melody and text to jazz/dixie tunes. The chord progressions are weak, with many faults and flaws. The lineup is poor as well, as the compilation process has forced the songs to be typed with no concern to form etc. No four-bars-per-line here. No book to bring along to the gig, but a great resource for old-and-nearly forgotten tunes.

There are a few mistakes, but very few. Very good for 625+ songs from the 30's thru the 60's. It's also a classroom in one book for standard jazz progressions. Well worth every penny. If you play the nursing home circuit this is the book.

These songs are ment to be memorized. Unlike the Real Book, the Ultimate Jazz Fake Book gives a clear and concise approach to playing many of the standards most know and love. There is some filler, but there is a lot of filler in the Real book, as well. I found this book very helpful while learning to play jazz -- in other words playing and then imrovising over the chord changes given to me in each song. I had a great time with most songs except The Peacocks (Lord, what were they thinking)and Cherokee. I ended up transcribing my own piece for Cherokee. All the others seem to be helpful. If you are a piano player or a guitarist, this book is for you!

I have eight fake books I think, and this is the last one I reach for. The changes are not always right, that's my biggest complaint, but the presentation isn't that good, either. Warner Brothers publishes a 'Just Standards' Real Book that is my first choice. I like the changes and I like the presentation. If I can't find the song there, I check the Sher Music Real Books. The Sher Real Books are the standard, almost everybody will tell you that. Nice presentation, good song selection, the right changes. I also have a couple of books in the Jazz Bible series, and they're good but the binding doesn't lay flat easily on a music stand.

I recommend that you check out the Warner Bros. or the Sher books first, you'll find that you don't need this book.

This book has an excellent selection of really great jazz tunes and standards. Like a lot of fake books and older sheet music, a few of the chords are either wrong or theoretically oriented in a rather bizarre context. Anyone who is trying to learn a song from this book should probably try to get a creditable recording of the song and double check the chords by ear. This is not an ideal collection, but in my opinion, worth the money.

Very nice jazz book. Son really likes it. This WAS shipped to me, however, I'm VERY VERY disappointed in Amazon's lackluster, unreliable (lack of shipping) to military APO addresses. In general, they've shipped to my military APO address about 60% (if that) of the time - for very basic items. Many purchases were not made because items can't be shipped to me, other items I had to have shipped somewhere else and pay additional shipping to get item mailed to me. Shame on Amazon! Unfortunately I've received NO good answer from Amazon!