When the original Volume 1, 5th edition of the Real Book came out in the early to mid 70’s, it was immediately embraced by most all gigging and learning jazz musicians as an indispensable, must have resource to have in your possession.

The demand for more charts, and tunes

Sometime in the 1980’s a RealBook Volume 2 emerged.

After all, Jazz sheet music was really nowhere to be found.

And multi page sheet music was not nearly as practical as having one page lead sheets.

The lead sheet format was so much closer to the jazz philosophy of improvisation, abstraction and interpretation.

Jazz musicians generally treat the composition as the starting point, and so they might alter the melody notes, the timing of the notes, or the chords.

Sometime in the 1980’s a RealBook Volume 2 emerged.

And look at this list of extraordinary artists and composers represented in Volume 2…

Pepper Adams, Nat Adderly, Eden Ahbez, Louie Alter, Luiz Antonio, Howard Arlen, Lilian H. Armstrong, Hoyt Axton, David Baker, Jack Baker, Richard Bard, Count Basie, Sidney Bechet, Gordon Beck, Joe Beck, Bob Berg, Alan Bergman, Marilyn Bergman, Ben Bernie, Denzil Best, Luis Bonfa, JoAnne Brackeen, Kendall Bright, Clifford Brown, Oscar Brown, Dave Brubeck, Johnny Burke, Ralph Burns, Kenny Burrell, Gary Burton, Sammy Cahn, Hoagy Carmichael, Benny Carter, Ron Carter, Kenneth Casey, Charlie Christian, Kenny Clarke, Stanley Clarke, Ornette Coleman, Johnny Coles, Buddy Collette, John Coltrane, Betty Comden, Joseph Conlan, Chick Corea, Sam Coslow, Tadd Dameron, Doc Daugherty, Mack David, Jimmy Davis, Miles Davis, Eddie DeLange, Gene DePaul, Peter DeRose, Paul Desmond, Eric Dolphy, Lou Donaldson, Al Dubin, George Duke, Vernon Duke, Michael Edwards, Duke Ellington, Booker Ervin, Bill Evans, Gil Evans, Jose Felciano, Djalma Ferreira, Dorothy Fields, Claire Fischer, Tommy Flanagan, Frank Foster, Russ Freeman, Walter Fuller, Dick Gasparre, George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin, Stan Getz, Terry Gibbs, Ray Gilbert, Joao Gilberto, Dizzy Gillespie, Norman Gimbel, Jimmy Giuffre, Benny Golson, L.P. Gonzales, Benny Goodman, Dexter Gordon, Adolph Green, Freddie Green, Johnny Green, Ferde Grofe, Dave Grusin, Earl Hagan, Bob Haggart, Jim Hall, Jimmy Hamilton, Oscar Hammerstein, Oscar II Hammerstein, Oscar III Hammerstein, Lionel Hampton, Slide Hampton, Herbie Hancock, W.C. Handy, Otto Harbach, Harburg. E.Y., Lorenz Hart, Hampton Hawes, Jimmy Heath, Neal Hefti, Joe Henderson, Ray Henderson, Woody Herman, Edward Heyman, Dubose Heyward, Greg Hopkins, Bart Howard, Freddie Hubbard, Will Hudson, Milt Jackson, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Billy Joel, J.J. Johnson, Arthur Johnston, Isham Jones, Keiko Jones, Thad Jones, Clifford Jordan, Gus Kahn, Ed Kaiser, Bronislau Kaper, Jerome Kern, Barney Kessel, Roland Kirk, Earl Klugh, Moe Koffman, Lee Konitz, Burton Lane, Michel Legrand, Alan J. Lerner, Harry Link, Frank Loesser, Jeff Lorber, Henry Mancini, Chuck Mangione, Maxine Manners, Pat Martino, Lyle Mays, Gary McFarland, Sergio Mendes, Johnny Mercer, Pat Metheny, Bub Miley, Irving Mills, Charles Mingus, Hank Mobley, Thelonius Monk, Wes Montgomery, Lee Morgan, Benny Moten, Gerry Mulligan, Ogden Nash, Al J. Neiburg, Oliver Nelson, Anthony Newely, Lennie Niehaus, Louis Oliveira, Ornette Coleman, Jack Palmer, Mitchell Parish, Charlie Parker, Ted Parsons, Joe Pass, Jaco Pastorius, Duke Pearson, Art Pepper, Carl Perkins, Oscar Pettiford, Maceo Pinkard, Cole Porter, Bud Powell, Joe Primrose, Tito Puente, Flora Purim, Ralph Rainger, Roger Ramirez, David Raskin, Don Raye, Andy Razaf, Ellis Reynolds, Jerome Richardson, Leo Robin, J. Russel Robinson, Richard Rodgers, Sonny Rollins, Sigmund Romberg, David Rubinson, Bob Russell, George Russell, Leon Russell, Victor Schertzinger, Tom Scott, Bud Shank, Woody Shaw, Jimmy Sherman, Wayne Shorter, Horace Silver, Frank Sinatra, Jimmy Smith, Joe South, Jack Strachey, Billy Strayhorn, Jules Styne, Clark Terry, Leon Thomas, Sir Charles Thompson, Bobby Timmons, Juan Tizol, Cal Tjader, Maria Toledo, Lennie Tristano, Bobby Troup, Stanley Turrentine, McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Van Heusen, Mal Waldron, Fats Waller, Cedar Walton, Harry Warren, Grover Washington, Ned Washington, Kurt Weill, Randy Weston, Alec Wilder, Ernie Wilkins, Spencer Williams, Gerald Wilson, Mike Wofford, Tommy Wolf, Stevie Wonder, Phil Woods, Lester Young, Victor Young, Joe Zawinul…and others not mentioned here!!!