[Dixielandjazz] Speaking of copying . . .Fake books?

[Larry Walton Entertainment]

I picked door three.

Most so called fake books are published by the big houses.  There are 
very few sources for the "trade" fake books.  When I say "trade" I mean 
sold owned and distributed by professionals to professionals and not the 
general public often "under the counter".  Many of you remember the old 
book number 1 that had about a thousand tunes, 2-3 to a page,  that you 
could go out and play gigs with.  It was in C and some years later came 
out in a dual Eb Bb version.  If you didn't have this book you didn't 
work because all the bands here used them.  I had to know the tunes 
because the books only existed in C.  I didn't own any because I was a 
horn player or had to look over the piano guys shoulder.  In the late 
60's I got one and transposed everything.  Later I got the Eb, Bb 
companion.  I think eventually there were three more put out.

At that time the fake books were only available to pros. I eventually 
picked up a couple of the newer versions from friends in the business.  
In later years the publishing companies got smart and started printing 
collections which are all very legal.

There are very few "trade" fake books out there today.  I own one 
Dixieland fake book that was purchased complete with all the cloak and 
dagger from a local music store that specializes in off the wall music 
and used recordings.  The guy actually took me to a back room, wanted to 
know who told me he had them and wanted cash. (Knock three times and 
whisper low that you and I were sent by Joe) It was like buying drugs or 
trading national secrets.  What a hoot.

Imagine my joy when OKOM fake books, at a reasonable price, became 
available here.

All most all are legit today and truthfully the ones that aren't are so 
non mainstream (like Dixieland and Trad Jazz) the big guys don't seem to 
care.

Larry Walton.
St. Louis


Bill Gunter wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> Seems to be much interest in the topic of piracy and copying, etc.
>
> Have we addressed the related issue of Fake Books?
>
> I have at least two (and probably several more) which, I know, have 
> copyrighted material in them and yet I know that a huge percentage the 
> songs have, in effect, been pirated.
>
> The books contain no information as to their publication ... no 
> author, publishing house, date, address ... nothing! They were sold 
> "under the counter" by some unnamed music store to the source that 
> passed them along to me. I can certainly understand the "built in 
> ambiguity" regarding the source of this material . . . who wants to be 
> pursued by the legitimate music industry!
>
> Do any of you ever make use of a fake book? Have you ever questioned 
> your use of such material in the same vein that we have questioned the 
> use of pirated CDs?
>
> Is there any significant difference between ripping off a CD and 
> ripping off the intellectual creation of a songwriter?
>
> What am I to do?
>
> 1. Find some legitimate agency and ask them how much I owe them?
> 2. Refuse to use the fake book?
> 3. Just say "aw, screw it!" and go ahead and check out the melody, 
> chord lines and lyrics anyway ?
>
> Respectfully submitted,
>
> Bill "I wanna do what's right" Gunter
> jazzboard at hotmail.com
>
>
>
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