Scat singing
Scat singing is vocalizing either wordlessly or with nonsense words and syllables as employed by
jazz singers who create the equivalent of an instrumental solo using only the
voice. Thus it is a type of
voice instrumental.
While the use of nonsense syllables in singing long predates scat, scat singing is distinguished by the fact that rather than using the sounds to exactly reproduce the melodic line, improvisations are made with the melody and rhythm, much as in other jazz
improvisations.
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.
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 other songs from 1911 to 1917. Popular 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 on 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 he did on his instrument. In one famous example, Armstrong scatted a passage on "I'm A Ding Dong Daddy From Dumas" â€" he sings "I've done forgot the words!" in the middle of recording before taking off in scat.
On October 26th 1927
Duke Ellington's Orchestra recorded Creole Love Call featuring
Adelaide Hall singing wordlessly. "She sounds like a particularly sensitive growl trumpter" according to
Nat Hentoff. The creativity must be shared between Ellington and Hall as he knew the kind of thing he wanted but she was the one who produced it the sound.
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 (see in particular her 1947 recording of
George and
Ira Gershwins' "
Oh, Lady be Good!").
Sarah Vaughan was also a great exponent of scat, sometimes inventing whole new melodic lines in her improvisation. She may not have had the popularity of Ella but those who know 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 'Crawling King Snake' and also notably opening the
b-side of
Joe Walsh's 1973 album
The Smoker You Drink, The Player You Get with the song "Meadow", a but also appearing in newer genres, including:
industrial music, in the chorus of
Ministry's 1991 song "
Jesus Built My Hotrod";
heavy metal music, in the band
Korn whose lead singer
Jonathan Davis has incorporated skat singing into songs such as "Twist", "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. More recently, Icelandic post-rock band
Sigur Rós used a form of scat singing called Hopelandic on their album
( ). Dance act
Scatman John (John Larkin) renewed interest in the genre briefly during the mid-90's.
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 authorities believe that this term is the source of the name of
ska music, which was a predecessor to
reggae.
*
Louis Armstrong *
Richard B. Boone*
Jack Black*
Cab Calloway *
Betty Carter*
Bing Crosby*
Scatman Crothers*
Jonathan Davis*
Sammy Davis, Jr.*
Cliff Edwards*
Kurt Elling*
Ella Fitzgerald*
Gene Greene *
Slim Gaillard *
Dizzy Gillespie*
Al Jarreau*
Cleo Laine*
Cher*
Dave Matthews*
Carmen McRae*
Bobby McFerrin*
Freddie Mercury*
Anita O'Day*
Mike Patton*
Louis Prima*
David Lee Roth*
John Larkin a.k.a. Scatman John*
The Nutty Squirrels*
Shooby Taylor*
John Tardy*
Mel Tormé*
Sarah Vaughan*
Leo Watson*
Robert Wyatt*
Jón Þór Birgisson a.k.a. Jónsi*
Kem*
A cappella*
Beatbox*
Bandari, similar to scat singing, used in
Persian music for centuries.
*
Canntaireachd (see also
Music of Scotland)
*
Doo-wop*
Eefing*
Mah Na Mah Na*
Toasting*
Vocalese*
Ben Golding and his Reggae orchestra*
Jimmy James "Jamesey James" Jamooke* Dick Higgins, "A Taxonomy of Sound Poetry" in
Precisely: Ten Eleven Twelve (1981)
*
Dick Higgins' Audio Works on UbuWeb Sound Poetry
*
Canntaireachd*
Scat-Groove One performed by Bad Eggz
