Yup, I bought the under the counter real charts used by all the jazzers years ago.

There they were, bundled in plain brown paper. Freckled from bad photo copies. Almost impossible to read the fonts. When playing with someone else they remembered the right chords, and you were not playing them.

I remember the pages falling out. I remember having to pencil in for the 4th time the number of verses, or write in A B B A B outro.

Just a bummer.

NOW for the NEWS.

In case you never were told, this is the software to replace the guy on bass and the guy on drums. Or the guy on drums and the guy with the guitar, you know, used to show up with just a black case and a pick and ask where the cable was so he could plug in. Drank your beer too.

This is NOT for pete's sakes a dang photo engraving program. It does an ok job. Now buy a pencil. I'd far rather have vibraphone realtracks than cute wee fermatas that are going to change.

And I'm sorry, but if your musicians don't understand basic chords and how you want to lay out the piece that's a bummer.

I just got handed 1/2 my charts in the wrong key and in the wrong clef, and I have to drop 3 flats AND transpose to treble from bass clef in passing. Very nice. I can either take the whole piece, which is wrong to boot, and put it in Sibelius, and try to change the flow, but even I know that if certain people show up I need to change the p's to pp's etc.

John Conley
Musica est vita