I quite like the old fake books Vol. I und II because they have a
real good collection of songs. I often have to change the cords
because they are not correct or I don't like them that way. The best
way I think is to listen to a good recording of the tune and then
change what you like...;-) I mean there are such great recordings out
there using completely different chords, say, for "Georgia On My Mind".
I miss the lyrics, however, but there are two books available (had a
lot of trouble to get it) that contain most of the songs of Vol. I
and II that have lyrics, and I like those very much.
The Sher New Real Books Vol. I to III are better edited, however, I
don't like the chord spellings much (MA, MI), I like the "real book"
spellings better, they are faster and easier to read. But some songs
have the lyrics, and some have parts of the arrangement of a good
recording, and so they are very valuable to learn Jazz tunes.
I have a lot of other song books and fake books, but in most cases I
don't like the written piano parts. I hardly ever play the melody in
the piano part, and most of them do exactly that. I think most of the
Hal Leonard editions are ok for a good sight-reading,
classically-educated piano player, but not musicians that are at home
in Jazz (and in Pop).
I prefer playing the changes in my way. I often listen to original
(or other good) recordings to see how the masters play the tune, and
I can learn much from them.
Last but not least - there are a lot of transcriptions of jazz tunes
out there, and most of them are unbelievably faulty. I know it's not
easy to transcribe, say, piano solos, or a Bill Evans theme, but it's
worth doing (or just trying) it for sure.
When I transcribe or arrange a tune, I first try to be as accurate as
possible, and only afterwards change things or make them easier to
read or play. And the problem with many fake books or song books is
that the authors seem to change things without grasping the original idea...
Just my 2 cents
Kurt
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