Lets write a fake book together

Elliot

Django ripped off Duke, bastardized the titles in French and they went out as his many, many times. How does this enter the Karmic equation?

djangology

I've been using foxit forever and agree...SO much faster than adobe. The only problem I'm having is that even though foxit is my default reader, pdfs both here and on the wiki always open in adobe. Can anyone tell me how to change that?

i just UNINSTALLED Adobe reader and that solved it. (be careful not to uninstall adobe shockwave or flash players)

djangology

Not wanting to be a stick-in-the mud, but most of the works in the Django canon are copyrighted. The copyrights to all or most Django Reinhardt sheet music, and arrangements thereof in the United States are owned by Jewel Music, Inc. In general, any project involving using existing works, transcribing Django Reinhardt pieces, and creating derivative works requires obtaining a liscense from Jewel Music.

Additionally, most of the other standards in the Django Reinhardt
repertoire that were written and published after 1922 (in the United
States) are subject to copyright control and licenses must be obtained
from the respective owners before they can be used.

Some folks may remember the Online Guitar Archive ( www.olga.net )OLGA was a very popular website that offered TABs of songs written by
it's users. OLGA has been effectively shut down by attorneys
representing the owners of the copyrighted material. You can visit www.olga.net if you wish to read the very charming letter its operators received from attorneys representing the music publishers.

There is also the Karmic side of this: Creating unlicensed versions
takes income and livelihood from guys like David Reinhardt (whose
father, Babik, worked for years to secure the royalties from Django's
compositions), and harms some of our friends like Michael Horowitz,
who had to pay to obtain licenses to transcribe works found in his
books.

Well, I would say that this is really just a private project between friends and nobody knows about it. Most likely the work these guys do on the fake book will be hijacked and sold by someone licensed to make money from it.

Jack

Hi all,

I don't doubt that this is, at best, a legally murky area. It's a frustrating situation, because I firmly believe most of the people involved would gladly buy a legit book, but it's been such a niche market that publishers haven't been willing to risk the money it would take to produce that book. Even Michael made mention of wanting to do a fake book, but being stymied by extremely high licensing fees. So musicians are left in a kind of limbo-we want to buy the book, we want to support David and reward Babik's work, but we aren't given the opportunity. Yet.

I can say that it hasn't escaped notice. When the project was first getting underway, I was contacted by a well known member of the GJ community saying a well known music publisher was commissioning him to do a GJ fake book and that he thought it would be good to collaborate. So perhaps a legal version is on the horizon-I wasn't given the dates or details-but until that day arrives we're damned if we do, damned if we don't.

best,
Jack.

Jack

Hi all,

I can't help but notice that nothing's changed on the fake book site for almost two weeks...I'd hate to see this die so soon, considering what a difference it could make to so many new players. It could just be that Chris is busy with other business, but I hope anyone who's been on the fence will jump in and start contributing. I'll be working on Anouman this week, I think...

best,
Jack.

robertsaunders

Jack wrote:

Hi all,

I can't help but notice that nothing's changed on the fake book site for almost two weeks...I'd hate to see this die so soon, considering what a difference it could make to so many new players. It could just be that Chris is busy with other business, but I hope anyone who's been on the fence will jump in and start contributing. I'll be working on Anouman this week, I think...

best,
Jack.

Yeah, Jack, I noticed too. I'm dead in the water without Chris, since I was copying the notation of tunes into Notebook for Chris to edit and post. Chris, if you're out there give us a holler, good buddy.

Cheers,
-Rob

A.K. Kibben

If some one tells me how to post charts on my Mac I will contribute...
I have 25 Fake books all on PDF...
Including the Hot Club of Tucson one that Matt wrote of the 110 compositions we perform... More to come...
It gets weird when I try to post attachments...
I'm doing something wrong...
Oh well...
So what... I'm technically challenge in some areas...

BTW, I sent them all to Chris...

A.K.

Jack

Hi Allin,

To post a single chart from a book pdf like Matt's you need to copy just the one chart and convert it to jpeg (or some other image file). When I do it (using Foxit pdf reader), here's what I do:

1. I use the 'snapshot' tool to select what I want. Usually it's a single page. The tool copies your selection to the clipboard.
2. I paste that into a graphics program (like Paint, Photoshop, etc.)
3. I save it as a jpeg, usually to the desktop so I can find it easily for the following steps.

Then to upload it here:
1. On the reply page under 'add an attachment' click browse.
2. Find the jpeg you just made. Open it.
3. In the file comment box, you can write a title or just leave it blank. Either way, click Add attachment.
4. Wait for the file to upload to Djangobooks. I often get a weird bunch of messages at the top of the page, but the file upload is fine even when I see those. Once it's uploaded and you've written your post, click Submit.

Done!
I think you and I have more or less the same fake book collections, so if there's ever anything you need posted but can't get to work just let me know.

best,
Jack.

JohnVB

I've been working at this for a while, too, and heard rumors of this thread while at Djangofest...I use finale (the cheap guitar version), and have started by writing out the tunes found in the Robin Nolan Gig Book, as this seems to contain most tunes played at jams by Gypsy Jazzers. This way, most of the tunes will be 'gigbook compatible'...I have however attempted to correct the gigbook errors I come across, and at times, remove some of the distracting flourishes which aren't actually part of the melody...and in some cases, I'll make a couple charts of a tune, one with the Nolan changes, and one with the more common variation. All of Me is a good example, where there are several Em7b5 chords squeezed in, which don't appear on standard charts and which I've never noticed anyone actually playing. I'm trying to compare various charts for the best/most likely chord progressions, and go from there.

I'm also planning to transpose everything to Bb as well, so clarinet players can have at it as well...

Anyhow, nice to see this discussion. I suppose I should go back and actually read all ten pages now.

Anyhow, I'm putting each tune in a single page (when possible) pdf format.

mitch251

I have a GJ fake book that I got somewhere????
Maybe you all have it. It has about 110 tunes in it.
I haven't really checked the changes out in all of it but it seems
OK. I could send it to someone if you like. I don't time to send
it to a lot of people but would be glad to send it to someone who can
make it available to all. Also whoever put this together did a nice job
and I hope they will not feel funny about my sharing it.


Best
Tom