Broadway shows have always been a source from the earliest days and it continues with Rent, Hamilton, and even Hair. Singer-songwriters such as Stevie Wonder, Brian Wilson, Carole King and Willie Nelson earned their way into the songbook through their own performances. When one door closes, another always opens today, great songs are inducted into the songbook though a different path. Many say that was when the last page of the songbook was written, but I disagree. At the time, most homes had a piano with someone in the family who could read sheet music. (There are many accounts of how it got its name, but my favorite is that there were so many pianos playing at the same time it sounded like the banging of tin pans.) Before albums, CDs, and the internet there was sheet music, and songwriters would pitch their songs to these publishers in hopes of having them printed and sold. It's a real place in New York City between Fifth and Sixth Avenue on 28th Street where music publishers set up shop starting about 1885. Let's start where the first pages of the songbook were composed and that would be, as many attribute, Tin Pan Alley. As with jazz, great songs come from many sources and continue to evolve as music itself changes. So what is the songbook, where did it come from, and can I check it out of the library? Well, many writers have attempted to document the Great American Songbook, including Alec Wilder's "American Popular Song: The Great Innovators, 1900-1950," but none have been able to clearly define what songs reside there - and I think for good reason. Jazz is a great American original embraced by the world, but where do jazz musicians get their inspiration? The Great American Songbook, of course. The Reno Jazz Orchestra (Photo: Provided by Reno Jazz Orchestra)
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