What is the Real Book? (a jazz shibboleth)

What is the Real Book and what in the heck is a jazz shibboleth? A history and analysis of the most influential book in jazz music of the past 40 years.

SUPPORT ME ON PATREON:

Aimee Nolte's video on abandoning her Real Books.

Barry Kernfelds website (enormously useful in putting this video together)

Follow me on the interwebs:

Background Music:

Peace,
Adam

[WhatTheKrakenKnows]

Hi Adam! I've been admiring your videos! Thank you!

A few commenters here are talking about how jazz musicians are elitist jerks...

Well: That's probably true a lot of the time. However, I think the "cutting session" or "jam session protocol" is a hang over from the days of segregation. Black musicians didn't want to make it easy for white cats to steal the music. Also, if you were a young black musician, you were going out to represent for your race, and needed to be tempered by flames from the elders. Between those two elements, it was important for both black and white musicians could show immediately that that they "could play" when daring to sit in. (The scenes of Eminem "sitting in" in 8 MILE are possibly relevant to this discussion.)

I'm not saying that this kind of attitude should still be present at a casual jazz jam now, but that history might help explain how it came about.

Taking this further to the 70's Real Book, there is definitely a discussion to be had about how black and white jazz artists are represented differently. Metheny, Swallow, Burton etc. handed over their charts. No major black musicians did -- why would they? so whitey could steal it? -- and as a result the charts to the heavy black jazz composers like Monk, Ellington, and Shorter are far more inaccurate than the Bostonians or Bill Evans. Swallow's comment in Kernfeld's book that the changes to Ellington were correct at last is ludicrous. Thelonious Monk's name isn't even spelled right, let alone the changes to his compositions...

BTW I memorized the Fifth Edition Real Book in high school, I am certainly part of that honorable (?) tradition. Thanks again Adam for cool videos!

Ethan

[Intenzity]

Hey man, I am totally not homophonic, some of my best friends are enharmonic. First inversion, second inversion, I don't judge, man.

[TimothyRyanFisher]

My first Real Book I bought in New York City, I had to go to a store and say a secret password that I learned from another musician. I went to the counter and asked for an umbrella, they took me down the stairs to a hidden area of the store and had hundreds of Real Books. That was thirty years ago. It was a big deal to me to find it and I bound each page to preserve it. I still use it, work on tunes with students.

[samuelhendricks]

Funny comment about the coffee stains. Don't know what inspired it, but the cover of Steve Swallow's 'Real Book' album has a big round coffee stain on it. At the time the record was made, I was friends with the art director, who asked to borrow my Real Book to work on the cover design. My copy had doubled as a coaster for a coffee mug at some point, and the telltale stain ended up on the album cover. Proud to have made such a profound contribution to a Steve Swallow record.

[kennethellison]

I bought my first Real Book literally "under the table" at my local music store in the 70's. It was, and still is, a wonderful tool.

[insaneintherainmusic]

What about the digital age bringing the real book to everyone's phones & tablets in the form of iReal pro? I see it everywhere, and it's a helpful practice tool, but I'm wondering how it fits into this story.

[zacharycohen]

This attitude in jazz is super frustrating for me. I'm a beginner hobbyist to the genre. I have no desire to play music for a living for various reasons. I respect those who do immensely, but it's not for me. That said, I'd still love to occasionally jam with some people. I've jammed with people in different genres and it's a very fulfilling and fun thing to do.

But for jazz? It feels like there's no gradient between pro players and the absolute beginners. And the beginners feel few and far between when you're getting into it in your late 20s. I just want to play with some people.

And I get some pros might not want to deal with a beginner not knowing certain "givens". It can slow things down for them. But I just wish there was some space somewhere in the jazz scene for adults looking to explore the scene non professionally.

/rant

[June_Hee]

0:34 "All Star"
the meme never ceases

[charlescoleman]

If it's Christmas time, the chord must be Am7b5

[JensLarsen]

Didn't know All Star was a real book tune! 😁

[sartoriusrock]

To my understanding, "Autumn Leaves" being written in E minor in the real book may have something to do with the fact that an alto saxophonist (unsure who) wrote out that particular chart.

Alto saxophone is in Eb transposition (C written on the staff played on alto comes out as concert Eb). All music written on the page for an alto saxophone will come out of the instrument a minor third above (well, technically a major sixth below, but details...) Anyways, a piece in G minor (concert pitch) would be written for alto sax as E minor. Therefore, a saxophonist writing out a lead sheet may keep that chart in "their" key (rather than transposing to concert pitch).

Not sure if this anecdote is accurate, but an interesting theory.

[MoshpitMerchant]

cat scratches ear at 3:47

Edit 3 years later: why does this have 1000 likes 😂

[peanutbutteronmyguitar]

I had a very bad time at a Jazz-Jamsession for exactly that reason. I've been to countless Jamsession of other or of no Genre and everybody was warm and welcoming while in the Jazz-Jamsession nobody told me anything that they were playing. Just a title and something like: "it's a classic you'll know it." For somebody that just wants to Jam this was extremely frustrating.
I really don't get the attitude why you are protective of music or art in general. If you love it so much, why don't you want to share that love? If you don't want to share it than it is not because you love it but because you have some connection with it that in it self isn't healthy or a good relationship. If for example you don't want to share it because your personality is based on that music and the struggle you had to go through to learn it. That's at least in my opinion not something that should define you as who you are. And just because you or most people learned it "the hard way" why force other people to go through this if there is an "easy way"?
And as always... sorry for my bad english.

[tomdowlan]

These videos are so intriguing and so well done. I'm 72 years old and I am a self-taught piano player. You would think after all these years that I would know about all of this. Well, never too late. Thanks for teaching an old man new tricks.

[pauldragusin]

You mentioned Aimee! Been following her for a couple of weeks now.
Great video as always! I am but a humble pop piano player but I love your videos and I am starting to get really interested in learning more about jazz.
Cheers!
A loyal fan from Romania.

[thegreatgambeeno]

Black Shibboleth - A jazz tribute to Black Sabbath

[TheCommonBear]

Upvoted because THE SPICE MUST FLOW.
Interesting as always, thank you for existing, Adam.

[JackSassyPants]

I'm a professional classical vocalist who's always had a warm spot in my heart for Jazz rep (and I'd say I perform it pretty 'aight) but I never understood the attitudes surrounding jazz performance:

These older Jazz players are super protective of an art form they claim isn't elitist but then when new players want to continue the tradition of Jazz through the means available to them they can be practically ex-communicated for it? And in the same breath these people will complain that Jazz is dying and that there should be more people who appreciate the classics as they see fit? Do they want people to appreciate the artform that has apparently given them so much joy and meaning or do they want to "protect" is from outsiders in a way that ultimately contributes to the genre's demise?

I'm just extremely frustrated that it's so goddamn difficult to break into the genre at all and while there's a lot of talk of elitism in universities and vilification of the written score a huge obstacle (in my experience) to even getting started in jazz is the community itself. It totally sucks because I love jazz but because I don't have encyclopedic knowledge of common rep it doesn't even feel worth pursuing anymore.

[JeffAnderson-jeffa]

Why stop at the Real Book? I pour gourmet coffees all over my cymbals and drum heads.

[ChadMojito]

Everything about this video is perfect. You were excellent already but you keep stepping up your game. Amazing!