The Real Book (and its ilk) were perfect for the way Jazz was played from the Bop era onwards. You'd play the basic melody so that listeners understood what the

The Real Book (and its ilk) were perfect for the way Jazz was played from the Bop era onwards. You'd play the basic melody so that listeners understood what the tune was and from then on you'd improvise, possibly reprising the melody to finish. The accompanists would use the chords as a starting point, substituting or extending them to match the soloist's direction so if they weren't exactly what the original songwriter intended it didn't matter all that much. No one was attempting to recreate the original recording.