Answered By: Brendan Higgins
Last Updated: Jan 10, 2023     Views: 1157

Most of the library's collection of fake books and lead sheet books are part of our reserve collection in the Stan Getz Library. Additionally, some lead sheets are also accessible online.

Here are some steps to take to find specific songs online:

First, search our Lead Sheet Search engine for a specific song. Make a note of which fake books that the song is listed in and the call number, which you can give to the folks at the circulation desk so that they can easily retrieve it.

 

If you'd like to see if the lead sheet is available online, try browsing in the Internet Archive's Fake Book Library Collection. Double check the table of contents to verify if the song is listed in that book and to find the page number.

 

Some notes about that collection:

  • These books are the unpublished predecessors to the versions the library owns, so there may be slight differences to the songs available in them.
  • If you cannot find the song you are looking for, check some other books listed here. We suggest the "Colorado Cookbook" and "Jazz Fakebook".
  • Note that, due to the unpublished nature of these books, inaccuracies in the transcription are possible.

 

More information on accessing lead sheets can be found here.

Comments (1)

  1. Be sure to check for different name versions. For example, a search of "Green Dolphin Street" turns up options that won't appear if you search "On Green Dolphin Street." Not all "standards" have uniform names in the various sources. Anyway, this is a really great resource, THANK YOU!!
    by songstruck on Feb 14, 2022