What is the Real Book? (a jazz shibboleth) 

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

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

A few years back a few friends and I created "The Fakest Book" - full of avant garde tunes, John Cage stuff, music games, and other weird stuff. Needless to say - it never caught on :(

0:34 "All Star" the meme never ceases

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

cat scratches ear at 3:47 Edit 3 years later: why does this have 1000 likes 😂

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.

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.

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.

Black Shibboleth - A jazz tribute to Black Sabbath

It’s hard to discern a difference from “I’m protective of my art form” and “I am a snob”.

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.

I think it's things like this that kinda made me stray away from jazz following my graduation. I never liked how it always felt like a competition. I'll knowingly admit that I'm not the best (or even a good) jazz guitarist by ANY means, but even to have a normal conversation with some jazz musicians felt like a test. Like, your worth as a human is measured by whether you know changes by heart or not. And I suppose I can understand the pedigree that comes with being a jazz musician, but it was never very welcoming and it kinda sucked the fun out of playing music for me during that time. That being said, studying jazz at university was a super helpful thing for my own playing and writing. I'm thinking about revisiting my old Real book if only to practice on my own time and get reacquainted with the way I used to play when I was still in school.

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

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.

Here in Łódź, Poland, most musicians use tablets and such with realbooks on them during jam sessions. No grumpy grampas guarding the old order of things. It's not like it hurts to look up a chord once in a while.

"Some things in music are sacred" Me: The lick?

I think the role of the real book should be defined. If you approach it as a tool to ASSIST musicians in learning jazz (either beginners or approaching a new standard), or as tool to be used during performance when a tune that you don't know that well is being called out. If we treat it as a know-it-all book of jazz, essentially getting the job of learning and internalizing jazz "done for us", then it definitely is a curse more than it is a blessing.

That’s great, very interesting and funny. I bought my real book (beige cover so it’s C Major edition, it’s upstairs on my music stand, with the cover hanging off, but with many, many of the pages still pristine) at a mainly reed and brass music shop in London many years ago. They weren’t on display, I had to ask and the sales person enquired if I wanted it in a plain paper bag. They were kept - literally- under the counter. I only ever pulled it out once while sitting in, and I was told to put it away. On the same gig I suggested ‘The Girl From Ipanema’ and was told ‘not on this gig’. Needless to say, I don’t and haven’t ever earned my living through music.

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

I’m in my junior year as a jazz major in college and I own a couple of real books. In my experience there are very few songs I have not had to make corrections on. In this way they have become more of an educational tool in that constantly have to transcribe any given song to make sure the book is correct. I think once you realize that the books have the inaccuracies that they do you just end up learning by ear anyway. Apart from that they a great tool to practice sights reading.

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.

Hi Adam! I have been following your channel for awhile now and in my opinion you have some of the best music theory content on RU-vid. Really great lessons! A suggestion for a video: a video where you take us through the process of finding information on the subject you're going to talk about (e.g. explaining the method you use to scan articles/papers for relevant information) and then a quick walk through on the editing process. That would be really cool I think! Thank you and keep on doing your thing :)

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

That kind of attitude is why I don't bother to ask about playing with others. I want to have fun, not hang out with people who put others down.

Eyyyy, that was pretty clever how you highlighted the grammatical homophones in the bit where you were explaining homophonic chords. Anyone else catch that?

I laughed out loud when you got to the gate keeping Jam musicians. no matter what activity you do there will always be gatekeepers.

No Real Book is genuine that doesn't have small, filter-sized sections of the back cover missing.

Question for next Q&A, when did you really start gigging as a musician? Was it High school, when you were at Berklee/Manhattan school of music or afterward? Is it more important in college to try to get gigs, or focus in your studies until you leave college and then start gigging regularly?

Simplification is useful for learning complex stuff. I can't undestand why they get upset, instead they should be cheering people up in learning, because the interest of people is what makes great an art piece.

My dad is a guitarist and went to Berklee in the 60s. He never had a Real Book until I got him one in around 2003, I guess right before the legal one came out because the one I bought was under the counter. Now I understand why he never needed one! All his charts were handwritten, by him. I even have a few copies of his charts somewhere. (He also insists upon calling it SCHOOL of music. 🙃)

I like watching your cat teleport in the background.

Nice video. Kinda reminds me of a trumpet lesson I had back when I was a young trumpet player just starting to learn the basics of jazz. My teacher assigned me to transcribe the head for the jazz standard 'Four,' and gave me a chord chart. I responded by saying that I had a Real Book, and that Four was in that. He gave me a short lecture very similar to this one, and told me that although the Real Book was useful, I shouldn't rely on it for everything, and to listen to recordings every time I start learning a new standard. This video was very helpful and filled in quite a few of the gaps that were left by my teacher's short lecture. Keep up the good work!

As an up and coming jazz student, after seeing this even though I don't own a real book, I don't think I'll be going to a jam session anytime soon thank you very much.

Hey Adam! My little Real Book story: I attended a Jazz workshop in London in the mid-80's (I was probably 17? - Just started at Berklee). My newly purchased Real Book (from the guy with the dog - who might have been before your time) was coveted by attendees (from all over Europe) and instructors (a bunch of great old British jazzers). Everyone over there had heard of it (t'was legend), but no one had one. I think I arranged to send about 50 of them back to Europe once I returned to the states, and got a lot of nice notes in return. It still makes me happy to think of how much great music that was likely responsible for (Shibboleth be damned!) Very much digging your content (particularly Coltrane Fractals!) I'm a Berklee MP&E grad from '89 (Doing audio-post here in NY, so will try to go catch a gig of yours at some point.)

You're a 'professional' when you're sound becomes your income not when you're 'good' at playing. Sounding professional can simply be busking pop tunes on the streets and earning £30/hr. If you want to survive that big bad world remember its thoughts who pay the piper who picks the tune.

Thanks for the history lesson! As a self-taught guitarist exploring these lands, the Real Book has been instrumental for not only learning some standards but learning common patterns and how/when to 'add taste' to my liking.

My favourite shibboleth comes from the Australians during WW2 in Papua New Guinea. Since they were in the forest and at night vision was minimal, there was no way to tell if someone approaching was Australian or Japanese. The Aussies would shout "woolloomooloo" (a suburb in Sydney), and if they got the same response, they were Australian. If however, they shouted back "Wooroomooroo", they were immediately shot.

A good teacher is someone who can make his or her subject interesting (while, of course, being correct). Not necessarily by emphasizing it's importance, but rather by being good storytellers and sharing their passion. You sir, are a great teacher, and this video is a good example of it. I'm not into jazz, I had never heard of the Real Book and I will most likely never have any practical use of what I just learned. And yet, it just enriched me. Knowledge isn't that heavy to carry, and this was a fascinating story. So thanks, and keep up the good work!

So in other words... Jazz musician's sometimes act just like the jocks you've been trying to avoid by becoming a musician in the first place. Guess it's back to punk rock for me...

One of the things that i most like in your videos is understanding more of the popular and jazz music worlds, as i'm more oriented to classical and world music. Thank you so much!

Really it just feels like old timer jazz musician jealousy to me, I mean they had to work so so hard to internalize all of these tunes off the records by ear which is incredible! But that doesn't mean they should shit on a younger generation for having better tools, knowledge, and education available in this day and age to learn any form of music as long as the commitment is there.

Hey Adam, another cool video thanks! As a trumpet player, I've been vibed for showing up with a Bb Real Book to a session where Real Books were accepted and being used. I was surprised to find out that reading in concert pitch and live transposing was more valued by these guys than reading in Bb? I handled it by telling them to go jump off a bridge and the session went fine. Still though, do you think always reading in concert pitch is a valuable skill to practice? Seems like an extra step to me if Bb notation is available, but would like to hear your thoughts.

I learned chords and piano from my dad's two old Tune-Dex books in the '70s. Sounding out chords, figuring out the mistakes and fixing them was part of the learning process.

There's something similar that happens within the culture of a uruguayan rythm called candombe, which is played with three different kind of drums (chico, piano, repique). A lot of people from the "old guard" resent it's widespreading because they feel a lot of people don't respect the drums and the music enough. They insist it should not be transcribed or written down, or explained even, just learned by watching and hearing. I know where they come from and why they could feel that way since it's one of the most fundamental aspects of uruguayan culture, but personally I don't share their views.

One of my saxophone instructors went to Berklee sometime in the 80's (around the time when Brandford Marsalis was enrolled). He told me this history about the real book years ago and it's stuck with me since. Cool to see that the story is documented in a video, we all appreciate it Adam.

THE SPICE MUST FLOW! ha ha ha

Duuude how had I never seen your channel until September 2019!! Oh well, better late than never. Thank you for what you do!!

In addition to the coffee stains, make sure to rip off the cover and last 10 pages of the real book :). Thanks for the video Adam.

There's a lot to be said for learning tunes by ear, either on the fly, or slowly and steadily by listening to and paying with a recording. I highly recommend it. There's also a lot to be said for learning things by sight-reading them every day. A bit of a new tune here, a bit of a new piece or exercise there. As a friend of mine in college said (about a million years ago), learning to sight-read or sight-sing is "learning to hear with your eyes." There's nothing really inherently wrong with learning to do that--many of the finest studio musicians make their living reading music every day in the Hollywood studios laying down tracks for movies, TV shows, and commercials. Of course, it helps to learn to read in small steps so that you interpret the symbols on the page correctly. As a simple example that we all know, eighth notes in jazz swing are written straight, but are swung when played, and the heaviness or lightness of the swing depends on the tempo, among other things. Once a player learns this, it's easy to switch back and forth between a straight and a swung feel, even though the basic rhythms look the same on the page. Extrapolate that concept to rhythms in other styles--classical, funk, rock, country, world musics--and you have a whole discipline where you read every day to get better at "fitting in" with whatever band, orchestra, group, or ensemble you'll find yourself playing in, whether it's a jam session, recording session, or rehearsal. Think of it this way--if you can't read music, it would be kind of like not being able to read the English language. You would always have to depend on a recording or a live broadcast to learn your new tunes. And although there's a TON of of great recordings out there of all sorts of great music, there is still a lot of great stuff that hasn't been recorded, and you'd be left out. Conversely, I can't say enough about learning to play things by ear. Of course, learning a jazz standard is a different level of ear learning than, say, a Beethoven piano sonata. (I DID have a middle-school student who did that once. He learned the third movement from the Moonlight Sonata by ear. It's very rigorous, and it took him about a year to do, but he didn't read music, and he learned it off of RU-vid videos.) For people who are getting their feet wet, a short, simple tune is best. My example to students is Happy Birthday To You. It's always fun when I tell this one to folks and they always have that "oh.....uh...yeah!" reaction when I bring this up. If a classical player wants to get their feet wet, use that, or Mary Had a Little Lamb, or whatever, as long as it's fairly short and simple. Proceed with baby steps, don't push them too hard or too fast, and then move to the next level. As for tunes from the Real Book, the classic jam session choices at the beginning could be Satin Doll, Take the A Train, Autumn Leaves (in both Em and Gm), Misty, etc. Save the bop tunes for later. Have them do it a little at a time, turn the page over, do four or eight bars without the music, and go on from there. I've taught kids as young as 10 and senior citizens as old as 85. Patience and positive attitude go a long way. I got my first Real Book (Second Edition) in 1979, and later got Book II, Book III, the Vocal Book, the Christmas Book, and also a ton of other fake books over the years, including a number of Aerbersold Books and the New Real, etc., which are all pretty good. The New Real, and some of the competitors' claim to fame is the accuracy of the forms, keys, chords, etc. A lot of them also cite recordings of the tunes for listening, which is good. I've also got a copy of the old fake book from the '40s called A Thousand and One Standard Tunes, which is a good one, and has a lot of tunes that used to be hard to find. Adam, you're right in that when the Real Book started to make it's way into the world, it became a bible of sorts and that the jam session repertoire got somewhat codified. Early on in my career as as Army and later USAF piano player, I found that if I called a standard tune from the Real Book, chances were that the guys my age knew it. But if I called a tune from the 1001 Standard Tunes book, a lot guys didn't. Tunes like Rosetta, Moon Over Miami, I Concentrate On You, and the like were great pieces of music, but the guys didn't know them. Eventually I made it my practice to say, "pick something you like. And tell what key, what style, and what tempo." Chances were that if they did that, it was a tune that they knew, at least somewhat, and had worked on, and if they picked a tempo they couldn't handle (usually on the fast side), well....they usually only made that mistake once. Another thing about keys. Learn the original keys, but....learn a tune in all twelve keys. Again, start simply and slowly, and build up that skill over many years. One time I had a singer call Autumn Leaves in Bm. Seriously. And, she told me just right before she started counting it off. (Yeah! That was fun!) It's usually the singers, especially the women, who need to sing a standard tune in a different key. It's because most of the song writers of the Great American Song Book were men, and most of them were baritones. Check it out, if you like. The ranges of most of those tunes lie very nicely in the baritone register. And most of the women who sing this music are altos, which means doing these tunes usually a fourth or a fifth away from the original key. So, if the singer, man or woman, needs it in Bm, Em, or Dm, well, that's what you're doing tonight. (Welcome to the joy in the rhythm section.) If you can do it in the original key, well, great. If not, you gotta go with the flow. And it'll be good for your facility on your instrument to play well in all keys. George Shearing felt he didn't know a tune until he could do that. Oscar Peterson and Art Tatum are two other pianists who did that well. Lastly, be kind to each other. I come from NY (State) and have been to cutting contests where the atmosphere is energetic, and lively, but also respectful. I've also been to cutting contests where people were so stuck on being purists, that no books were allowed, and if you couldn't keep up to a really high standard, they wouldn't even talk to you, much less let you sit in. Frankly, life is way to short to treat people that way or to be treated that way. I could study a person's strengths and weaknesses as a player for about a week, write a piece of music for them to play (arrangement or head tune), and have it make them either look like gold or like crap, depending on what I wanted to do them--public accolades or public embarrassment. If I embarrassed them, it wouldn't help them out any, and it's certainly not a way to make friends or allies with anyone. Try to be helpful to the folks coming up--we were all there at one time or another. Peace. PMH

For me, that sums up jazz; it's more important to do things the hard way than play something anyone would want to listen to.

Beyond just a simple collection of tunes, the Real Book (or fake books in general) can provide a pathway for people with traditional classical training toward a better understanding of music. Most classical piano music, for example, would never have the chords or changes listed anywhere on the manuscript--perhaps to keep the pianist's focus on the exact notes to be played. It's like rowing a boat from below decks with no portholes to see where you're going. With the introduction of the chord symbols, the musician can begin to feel where the music is headed and it also opens the doors to being more creative with harmony. Since the charts in the Real Book are stripped down to generally melody notes, rhythm and little else, the musician can find a freedom of expression within a familiar tune unavailable to the strict note-by-note sight reader. I finally understood a lot more about my instrument (the piano) when I stepped back from my classical training and re-approached it with a chord-first view. It really opened my eyes and turned piano from a dilatory childhood chore into an exciting world of creativity. Chord-first is how the Real Book (fake books) are arranged, of course. Wish I'd had been introduced to that paradigm as a 5 year old playing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and an 8 year old playing John Thompson's books. I'd have definitely developed much earlier and probably been a piano professional at a young age.

The college I went to had jazz and classical. The jazz kids were basically consigned to a closet somewhere. The jazz side controlled who played at the faculty holiday parties (a coveted spot so you could kiss up to professors). They would basically pick us from the classical side to attempt to "take us down a peg" at the party. I was asked to play double bass a few times. The first time they pulled the "the usual key" bullshit with me. It turned out fine though since I have functioning ears and they weren't going into super Avant Garde stuff. Really annoying attitude though. We were always nice to jazz brass players we conscripted into orchestra and had to teach... basically everything to.

I binge watched hours of your videos over the weekend. You create some of the most interesting, most well produced videos on youtube. Props, my dude!

i cant even read music lol

This was really insightful and useful to know for a classically trained composer, like myself, who works now and again with jazz musicions. Thank you!

is the coffee an inside joke?

I love this segment! Bought my Real Book in 1977 or 8 (orange cover) from a guy who walked into the music store where I taught. He had a goatee, so you knew he was a real musician. Still have the book 40 years later.

Gotta transcribe, gotta transcribe, gotta transcribe.

I play a lot of jazz on the banjo. A tune like Blue Monk was made for the banjo. So many tunes cross over into Bluegrass. I play melodic banjo, where the gaol is not to repeat a string, you go to a lower string to play a higher note to always using a different string to get the next note. This smoothes the tones because you can hold them longer. Tunes like Pent Up House from Sunny Rollins, fit perfectly with melodic style banjo, which Bela Fleck made famous. Thats why I switched from jazz guitar to playing melodic banjo, I recognized that a simple technique, don’t repeat a string, could unleash a whole system of playing, which it has. In Bluegrass guitar they call it floating. If you play a note on a single string, the new note kills the note before. In melodic style the next note is on a different string so to first note is not killed. This is like pulling the hammers up on a piano. It makes the banjo notes smoother, they are not cut off, or choppy. Thats why I switched, I was looking for that simple idea that I couldn’t find in jazz guitar.

That fat cat place sure sounds like a bunch of fun. Seriously though, what is it about music that makes people in to such superior fart smellers?

Your videos are always immensely helpful but this one hit home for me. I considered myself a serious musician and pretty good guitarist until I was asked to sit in with my friend's jazz band at his cookout two years ago and realized how little I knew. I decided to immerse myself in jazz and found out about the real book which has been extremely helpful. Lately I've been discovering more about the jazz "culture" and shibboleths (key of "Autumn Leaves," alto break in "Night in Tunisia") and this video let's me know to start ditching the real book in favor of ear training. Thanks, Adam! Hope I get good enough to jam with you next time you're in DC.

THEY'RE/THERE/THEIR, thank you Adam

As a 72 year old with over 60 years playing woodwinds and recently learning how to play jazz, this is extremely interesting. Thanks for sharing this knowledge!

At 1:24 you should've really said "looking kind of dumb" :D

This was my favorite video. Thanks for this, and for the effort you put in to make videos that are uniquely eloquent, educational and accessible! Big fan!

Jazz harder than anyone has jazzed before

Adam great video! Enjoyable and very informative. I'm not a bass player, I'm a saxophonist but I love your content and your intelligent commentary. Thanks, keep up the great work.

meh. Music is music man. How ever a person learns jazz or any form of music is up to them and different on the context. I use the real book and tabs in combination even though i can read music, just to save time. And it has helped me learn for what I want to do. I am a jazz guitar hobbyist and still very new to jazz guitar. I only have about 45-60 minutes of practice time per day. I don't have the time to sit down and learn jazz standards by ear to satisfy a social construct made up by jazz purists.

Again, thanks! This makes sense of John Goldsby's "no Real Book, please" comment in his excellent Jazz Bass Book.

I feel so frustrated every time I hear of these fucking Jazz snobs who ban people or ridicule people because they don't have the same musical perspective or background as they have. It's not like jazz music is thriving anyway. They should welcome people who want to play jazz with open arms. I'm not a jazz musician, but move in the same social circles as many professional musicians. So many times at parties or in pubs, these people laugh at or make derogatory comments about amateur jazz musicians complaining that they don't have a deep and true understanding of jazz. I always interpret this as some form of insecurity. But worst of all, it makes aspiring musicians afraid of playing jazz music. Jazz music has become almost like classical music. This elitist project that is fiercely guarded by both the musicians themselves and other self-proclaimed gate watchers.

learning that steve swallow was faculty at berklee put everything about him into perspective and made his style make sense.

These "professionals" (not to say they're not good players) seem like they're more concerned with being condescending and/or belittling those who don't know everything under the sun.

2:03 - Alan Partridge! The cherry on top of an interesting video on learning and jazz culture. Thank you!

Q. What's the difference between a jazz musician and a pizza? er A pizza can feed a family! Just kidding. Love your fantastic videos (but there's some terrible snobs out there on the jazz scene!)

I don't play bass nor do I even play jazz, but Adam, these educational style music history videos are the highlight of my sub box. Thank you :)

What's the story behind coffee stains? Is it a joke flying over my head?

good video, man ... it's funny how there are inverted layers and layers about the Real Book ... i remember back in the late 80s when i was making the leap from being a play-by-ear rock hobbyist to a self-taught jazzy/fusion hobbyist (who would later study privately and at workshops), there was a prevalent snobbery from those of us with a real book who were striving to learn the canon looking down on guys still 'only' wanking on MTV hair metal, etc ... of course, we all learned the hard way that real players looked down on us with the same kind of disdain ... funny how folks spend so much time deciding who the 'other' is instead of just putting the energy behind getting better and spreading the art

Why coffee? Why spill coffee all over it? Did I miss the meme? If it looks old, it looks "original?" Seems like Jazz musicians are just hipsters. Jazz is played by ear, yea, but is not everyone's taste different? To play with a Jazz group, why should you know every single key to every single song? Why can't they just tell you the key and you play that way? It sounds good if you do certain things, and that's what is developed over time, but you can't develop if you don't get to play. I genuinely do not understand. I am not in music, but there are a lot of unnecessary problems, that you describe, that could easily be fixed if musicians didn't have a superiority complex.

In the late 70's, I went to a Left Bank Jazz Society concert in Baltimore. Jon Faddis brought his Real Book. It sat, unopened, at his feet. The other players were Monty Alexander, Rufus Reid, and Mel Lewis!

1:39 Is that the start of the Simpsons?

Fantastic analysis! I feel that "shibboleth" applies to many topics in music and nice to have the perfect word for it!

I thought this was going to be another parody of Bohemian Rhapsody.

This was a fantastic video, generally unbiased, informative, and concise. Nice job.

Yellow pages hurt way less your eyes with long periods of reading than white ones, I think all this fuzz around real jazz and their way to learn it it's just dumb. There's a sacrifice between keeping jazz as it was decades ago and this way to stump on new ways to move on.

Adam, looking at this older video, i realize you're like fine wine!

Aimee Nolte says to throw your real book away ;) Guess I should watch the whole video before commenting.... oops

Got mine in 1987... ripping pages off it was also a custom (by now it's become a "Half-Real Book"!) :-)

My my. I'm a classically trained pianist and I used to think we were the elitists :p

As someone who plays music for a living, a big part of what determines what gigs I take is pay. It's probably different out on the Coast but here in the Midwest the average pay for top 40, Country, or Dance music gigs FAR outweighs the pay at a Jazz gig. The majority of the public Jazz music that happens around where I live is typically played for free, or maybe in exchange for lunch at the cafe that they're playing at. In the increasingly rarer event that a paying private party, or wedding etc that wants some Jazz in the background comes along, there are SO MANY players, (typically straight out of college studying for that Jazz degree), that want to take it so they can finally say "I play Jazz professionally". There's no union out here so it ends up that these events can find a band that will do it for very cheap. Jazz is fun, and it can really help develop your chops, but when it comes to a musician honestly trying to make some money, at least in this area, you're much better off prepping a huge catalogue of more popular and lucrative genres, so you're ready to sit in on a gig whenever you get called. I used to feel kind of guilty for busting out my real book in the rare event that I got a Jazz gig, but I don't anymore after honestly evaluating what is more likely for a higher return on my time in my job. From my experience, it seems like the audience finds it more taboo to be looking at a chart when you're playing to the people on the dancefloor at a corporate event than when you're wallpaper at a wedding reception. And in the end the customer is what really pays the bills, not some snobby Jazz major playing Sax on your left.

Covering the real book with coffee stains is for scrubs. The pros use whiskey.

I love the casual "they're/there/their" joke - for some reason it made my day :)

Hey, VSauce! Adam here.

Adam...GREAT video! I never knew the history of the book i've had for years. VERY intruiging! Thanks again

not sure anything "sacred" going on with those musicians against the Real Book, same community exists for Linux in computers. some people want to keep their world small and unpopular so they can feel more relevant and powerful within it