Though Louis Armstrong's 1926 recording of " Heebie Jeebies" is often cited as the first song to employ scatting, there are many earlier examples. Problems listening to this file? See media help. Harry Barris somewhat mimics the sound of a cymbal. The Rhythm Boys scat on their 1927 recording of " Mississippi Mud / I Left My Sugar Standing in the Rain". For example, in her 1960 recording of " How High the Moon" live in Berlin, she quotes over a dozen songs, including " The Peanut Vendor", " Heat Wave", " A-Tisket, A-Tasket", and " Smoke Gets in Your Eyes". The 1958 song " Witch Doctor" by Ross Bagdasarian Sr., creator of Alvin and the Chipmunks, employs the technique of humorous scatting in its chorus of nonsense syllables (oo ee oo ah ah), another one is Will Stamper with Emphasis on Scat.Įlla Fitzgerald drew extensively on popular music. Leo Watson, who performed before the canon of American popular music, frequently drew on nursery rhymes in his scatting. In addition to such nonsensical uses of language, humor is communicated in scat singing through the use of musical quotation. Other examples of humorous scatting include Slim Gaillard, Leo Watson, and Bam Brown's 1945 "Avocado Seed Soup Symphony", in which the singers scat variations on the word "avocado" for much of the recording. Cab Calloway exemplified the use of humorous scatting. Humor is another important element of scat singing. The comparison of the scatting styles of Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan reveals that Fitzgerald's improvisation mimics the sounds of swing-era big bands with which she performed, while Vaughan's mimics that of her accompanying bop-era small combos. The choice of scat syllables can also be used to reflect the sounds of different instruments. Syllable choice also differentiated jazz singers' personal styles: Betty Carter was inclined to use sounds like "louie-ooie-la-la-la" (soft-tongued sounds or liquids) while Sarah Vaughan would prefer "shoo-doo-shoo-bee-ooo-bee" ( fricatives, plosives, and open vowels). Syllable choice influences the pitch articulation, coloration, and resonance of the performance. The deliberate choice of scat syllables is also a key element in vocal jazz improvisation. Will Friedwald has compared Ella Fitzgerald to Chuck Jones directing his Roadrunner cartoon-each uses predetermined formulas in innovative ways. All of Ella Fitzgerald's scat performances of " How High the Moon", for instance, use the same tempo, begin with a chorus of a straight reading of the lyric, move to a "specialty chorus" introducing the scat chorus, and then the scat itself. As well, scatting usually incorporates musical structure. Though scat singing is improvised, the melodic lines are often variations on scale and arpeggio fragments, stock patterns and riffs, as is the case with instrumental improvisers.
Characteristics Structure and syllable choice
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