SCAT SINGING

'Scat singing' is a type of voice instrumental music. A scat is vocalized either wordlessly or with nonsense words and syllables (e.g. "bippity-bippity-doo-wop-razzamatazz-skoobie-doobie-bee-bop-a-lula-shabazz") as employed by jazz singers. Scat singing gives singers the ability to sing improvised melodies and rhythms, to create the equivalent of an instrumental solo using their voice.
Another form of jazz singing, vocalese, is closely related, but uses lyrics rather than nonsense syllables. Often, rather than improvising melodies, practitioners of vocalese sing lyrics to improvisations by instrumental performers.

Contents

History

Notable scat singers (in chronological order)

See also

Further reference

External links

History

Before the national spread of jazz in the United States, a type of scat singing was already in use by ragtime vocalists. Ragtime pioneer Ben Harney and New Orleans pianist Tony Jackson were said to be scat singing in the early years of the 20th century. One early master of ragtime scat singing was Gene Greene who recorded scat choruses in his song "King of the Bungaloos" and several others between 1911 and 1917. Star entertainer Al Jolson even scatted through a few bars in the middle of his 1911 recording of "That Haunting Melody".
A frequently repeated legend alleges that Louis Armstrong invented scat singing on the spot when he dropped the lyric sheet while singing during his recording of "Heebie Jeebies" in 1926. The story is false and Armstrong himself made no such claim. Jazz musicians Don Redman, Cliff Edwards, and Red Nichols all recorded examples of scat earlier than Armstrong. However, the record "Heebie Jeebies" and subsequent Armstrong recordings introduced scat singing to a wider audience and did much to popularize the style. Armstrong was an innovative singer who experimented with all kinds of sound and improvised with his voice as well as on his instrument. In one famous example, Armstrong scatted a passage on "I'm a Ding Dong Daddy from Dumas"—he sings "I've done forgot the words!" in the middle of recording before taking off in scat.
On October 26, 1927 Duke Ellington's Orchestra recorded "Creole Love Call" featuring Adelaide Hall singing wordlessly. "She sounds like a particularly sensitive growl trumpeter", according to Nat Hentoff. The creativity must be shared between Ellington and Hall as he knew the style of performance he wanted, but she was the one who was able to produce the sound. In 1932, Ellington repeated the experiment in one of his versions of "The Mooche", with Baby Cox singing scat after a muted similar trombone solo by Tricky Sam Nanton.
According to Dick Higgins, "In Black American music there is a sound poetry tradition, possibly based originally on work calls, which we find [transformed] into the scat singing of the popular music of the 1930s, in the long nonsense-like passages in Cab Calloway's singing of "Minnie the Moocher", for example".
Ella Fitzgerald further popularized scat singing as a vocal jazz art form, most particularly exemplified in her 1947 recording of George and Ira Gershwin's "Oh, Lady be Good!".
Sarah Vaughan was also a great proponent of scat, sometimes inventing whole new melodic lines in her improvisation. She may not have had the popularity of Ella Fitzgerald but rate her as the finest scat singer ever, the John Coltrane of scat.
Scat singing influenced the development of doo-wop and hip hop. It has also appeared in various genres of rock music. Jim Morrison of The Doors sings a chorus of slow scat on the song "Cars Hiss By My Window",trying to replicate a harmonica solo he had heard and it also notably opens the b-side of Joe Walsh's 1973 album ''The Smoker You Drink, The Player You Get'' with the song "Meadow". The technique was employed in the song "Wish You Were Here" by Pink Floyd.
Scat also makes appearances in newer genres, including industrial music, in the chorus of Ministry's 1991 song ""; nu metal, in the band Korn whose lead singer Jonathan Davis has incorporated scat singing into songs such as "Twist", "Ball Tongue", "Freak on a Leash", "B.B.K." and "Liar"; and the heavy metal subgenre of death metal, where scat singing is used by John Tardy of the band Obituary. Legendary jazz artist Scatman John (John Paul Larkin) renewed interest in the genre briefly during the mid-90s. Jack Black incorporates scat into several Tenacious D songs, most notably: Tribute, The Cosmic Shame, Classico Double Team (live) and Bowie. Singer JoJo does ad-libbed scats on the track "Yes or No". Other modern examples include "Rag Doll" by Aerosmith, "Under My Voodoo" by Sublime, "Ma Meeshka Mow Skwoz" by Mr. Bungle, "In My Bed" by Amy Winehouse, "Stuck in the Middle" by Mika
The term ''skat'' is used in Jamaican music for a verbal representation of a popular guitar sound. The master Jamaican guitarist Ernest Ranglin, said that "the offbeat guitar scratching" that he and other musicians played was referred to as "skat! skat! skat!". Some music experts believe that this term is the source of the name of ska music, which was a predecessor to reggae.
Another method of scat singing is practiced by guitarists who scat along with their solos note for note. Notable practitioners include George Benson, Sheldon Reynolds, and Rik Emmett.

Notable scat singers (in chronological order)

★ Gene Greene (1881-1930)

★ Cliff Edwards (1895-1971)

★ Leo Watson (1898-1950)

★ Louis Armstrong (1901-1971)

★ Bing Crosby (1903-1977)

★ Cab Calloway (1907-1994)

★ Louis Prima (1910-1978)

★ Scatman Crothers (1910-1986)

★ Slim Gaillard (1911/1916-1991)

★ Dizzy Gillespie (1917-1993)

★ Ella Fitzgerald (1917-1996)

★ Anita O'Day (1919-2006)

★ Carmen McRae (1920-1994)

★ Sarah Vaughan (1924-1990)

★ Alice Babs (born 1924)

★ Sammy Davis, Jr. (1925-1990)

★ Mel Tormé (1925-1999)

★ Cleo Laine (born 1927)

★ Betty Carter (1929-1998)

★ Shooby Taylor (1929-2003)

★ Richard B. Boone (1930-1999)

★ Mark Murphy (born 1932)

★ Johnny "Guitar" Watson (1935-1996)

★ Jeanne Lee (1939-2000)

★ Al Jarreau (born 1940)

★ John Paul Larkin ("Scatman John") (1942-1999)

★ Aretha Franklin (born 1942)

★ George Benson (born 1943)

★ Robert Wyatt (born 1945)

★ Micky Dolenz (born 1945)

★ Freddie Mercury (1946-1991)

★ Ruth Pointer (Pointer Sisters) (born 1946)

★ David Gilmour (born 1946)

★ Edgar Winter (born 1946)

★ Steven Tyler (born 1948)

★ Anita Pointer (Pointer Sisters) (born 1948)

★ Bonnie Pointer (Pointer Sisters) (born 1950)

★ Bobby McFerrin (born 1950)

★ June Pointer (Pointer Sisters) (1953-2006)

★ Jackie Chan (born 1954)

★ David Lee Roth (born 1954)

★ The Nutty Squirrels (active 1959-64 and 1977-81)

★ Anthony Kiedis (born 1962)

★ Dave Matthews (born January 1967)

★ Kurt Elling (born November 1967)

★ Bradley Nowell (born February 1968)

★ Mike Patton (born 1968)

★ Jack Black (born 1969)

★ Jonathan Davis (born 1971)

See also

★ A cappella

★ Bandari, similar to scat singing, used in Persian music for centuries.

★ Beatboxing

★ Canntaireachd (see also Music of Scotland)

★ Doo-wop

★ Eefing

★ Mah Nà Mah Nà

★ Puirt à beul (mouth music)

★ Scatman (Ski Ba Bop Ba Dop Bop)

★ Toasting

★ Vocable

★ Vocalese

★ Hopelandic

Further reference

★ Dick Higgins, "A Taxonomy of Sound Poetry" in ''Precisely: Ten Eleven Twelve'' (1981)

External links

★ Dick Higgins' Audio Works on UbuWeb Sound Poetry