Bb Clasic Real Book Indexing problems

[retrogrouch]

I have the 5th edition Real Book PDFS for C and Bb instruments. I have followed the naming conventions and tested the C indexes for Vols 1 - 3 with no problems. Things fall apart when I set Bb as my default. I adjusted the offsets to allow for missing cover pages and the first few songs align well. I tried a random test of volume 2 and went through the index song by song. Blues for Philly Joe took me to Blues in the Closet and no songs after that aligned. The Bb book has some pages with 2 songs - that could be a problem. I have found similar problems with The New Real Books (Bb edition)1, 2, &3. I refreshed the Books and My Scores.

[Phil Smith]

We're very familiar with the Classic Real Books and we know they should all have the same songs no matter if it's a Bb, C, Eb or Bass clef version. If you have a C version of the PDF and a Bb version, both will need to have the same number of pages prior to the first song in order to use the single index system. If you have satisfied the requirement of both PDF files having the same number of pages prior to the first song and you're experiencing problems with your Bb book it means there are pages missing or in the wrong order. You have to review the PDF which means check the C PDF against the Bb PDF to determine what's missing or out of place. This is easiest to do with the physical book and the digital version. Whenever you don't scan and assemble a PDF you cannot assume all pages are present and in the correct order. The New Real Books have different songs in the C versions and Bb/Eb versions which is why different indexes are available. Again, if you didn't create the PDF yourself, you cannot assume all of the pages are present and in the correct order and it's best to compare it with the physical book.

All of these books have page numbers, there's no short cut for advancing through the PDF page by page to assure that each page is present by making sure the pages numbers never skip.