Real Book

The Real Book can refer to any of a number of popular compilations of lead sheets for jazz tunes, but is generally used to refer to Volume 1 of an underground series of books transcribed and collated by students at Berklee College of Music during the 1970s. It got its name to distinguish it from the widely available fake books which printed only chords and lyrics of standard songs, to avoid copyright issues. The Real Book included melody lines, thus infringing music copyright, and the older versions were pirated — that is unlicensed — publications that paid no royalties to song authors. In 2004, Hal Leonard published a licensed edition, which pays royalties to song authors.

Musicians find it convenient to work from "the book", because it is available in different editions to suit B♭, E♭, and C (concert-pitch) instruments, as well as bass clef and voice editions ("low" and "high" voice, with lyrics included). A band leader can conveniently call out page numbers, since each edition is also paginated identically.

Bassist Steve Swallow and pianist Paul Bley are rumored to have been responsible for producinglead sheets for the book. However, this is a myth. Compositions by Swallow, Bley, and their friends (e.g. Chick Corea) are heavily represented in The Real Book alongside jazz standards and classic jazz compositions because those were the songs that were being played most by jazz musicians in the early 1970s, when the book was created. There is also speculation that composer Stu Balcomb was heavily involved in putting the book together, given his credit in Swallow's album Real Book for "cover graphics", and given the presence of several of his tunes in the book. The handwriting in the Real Book matches that in the liner notes for the album as well, suggesting that the whole book was written out by Swallow. Again, this is not accurate — but Swallow knew who to call to get the picture for his album. Only the first volume is the original. The two following volumes of The Real Book were produced—volume 2 is printed in characteristically 'rough' handwriting and transcription, while the third volume is typeset on a computer.

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