Scat singing

In vocal jazz, scat singing is vocal improvisation with wordless vocables, nonsense syllables or without words at all. Scat singing is a difficult technique that requires singers with the ability to sing improvised melodies and rhythms using the voice as an instrument rather than a speaking medium.

Characteristics

Structure and syllable choice

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. As well, scatting usually incorporates musical structure. 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.Will Friedwald has compared Ella Fitzgerald to Chuck Jones directing his Roadrunner cartoon—each uses predetermined formulas in innovative ways.

The deliberate choice of scat syllables also is a key element in vocal jazz improvisation. Syllable choice influences the pitch articulation, coloration, and resonance of the performance. 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). The choice of scat syllables can also be used to reflect the sounds of different instruments. 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.

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Latest News for: scat singing

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Violinist Tolling, special guests to perform Sunday at Piedmont arts center

East Bay Times 21 Jan 2025
It’s silky smooth and he can scat at the highest level ... He’s not just singing a piece and understanding it’s harmony ... of the bridge; and my not being the center of attention when he’s singing.
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Music Review: Mac Miller's lost album 'Balloonerism' is airy and experimental

North Shore News 16 Jan 2025
“What ever happened to apple juice and cartwheels?” he sings on “Excelsior.”. The best track is the lead single — “5 Dollar Pony Rides” — which features a hangdog Miller reaching out to an old love, almost scatting by the end.
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Music Review: Mac Miller’s lost album ‘Balloonerism’ is airy and experimental

Wtop 16 Jan 2025
“What ever happened to apple juice and cartwheels?” he sings on “Excelsior.”. The best track is the lead single — “5 Dollar Pony Rides” — which features a hangdog Miller reaching out to an old love, almost scatting by the end.
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These songs dominated the Billboard charts longest

Fox31 Denver 28 Dec 2024
Fitzgerald famously once forgot the words while singing, so she came up with a now-famous scat on the spot ... Unassuming Australian singer Olivia Newton-John had concerns about singing the song, which ...
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Chicago's Black Voices in Cabaret makes amplifying Black voices its mission

Chicago Sun-Times 20 Dec 2024
Incredible singing was just one part of a recent cabaret show at the Epiphany Center for the Arts. There was also scatting, snapping and dramatic flair ... Performers may sing, dance, recite poetry, share stories, tell jokes or deliver skits.
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Holiday Tunes that Swing and Bring Joy to the World

Anderson Observer 16 Dec 2024
Nothing sings in the holidays like this album ... Scat singing, Herbie Hancock and a Dixieland “Frosty the Snowman” make this worth a listen ... Scat singing, Herbie Hancock and a Dixieland “Frosty the Snowman” make this worth a listen.
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Anohni review – uniquely gifted interpreter pays homage to mentor Lou Reed

The Guardian 25 Nov 2024
... Reed appending a lengthy scat vocal solo to Sunday Morning, performing a funk version of All Tomorrow’s Parties and inviting a tai chi master onstage to do the splits while he sang Perfect Day.
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ILLIT’s ‘I’ll Like You’ debuts on Billboard 200; ‘Tick-Tack’ MV gets 10-M views in 16 hours

Manila Bulletin 19 Nov 2024
14 ... ILLIT (Belift Lab) ... The unique, upbeat scat singing (“Tick-Tack”) in the chorus lingers with the listener long after the initial listen, resembling the sound of a clock ticking and the fickle mind that changes by the second ... 94 ... No ... Sanctuary (EP). No.
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Free Fall series ends on lively note

White Rock Lake Weekly 15 Nov 2024
Their second song involved a bit of vocal improvisation from Taylor in the form of scat singing while Aaron responded with dialogue of his own from the upright bass.
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A Wonderful World Is Also a Familiar One

New York Magazine 12 Nov 2024
He gets the audience, for instance, to sing along to “You ... As he records “Heebie Jeebies,” Iglehart’s Louis drops his sheet music and, while fumbling for words, seems to invent scat-singing on the spot.
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Delicate ballads, bold brass and the thrill of Thriller: 10 of Quincy Jones’s greatest productions

The Observer 04 Nov 2024
Check that little organ flourish just before Jackson starts singing, or the freewheeling ... There’s that jazz scholarship again, too, in the joyously silly backing vocals from scat-singing Patti Austin.
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The week in classical: Trouble in Tahiti + A Quiet Place; The Turn of the Screw; Sinfonia of London/Wilson – review

The Observer 20 Oct 2024
By the time Leonard Bernstein wrote his one-act opera (1952), mod cons had pushed lofty ideals out of the way ... He embraced jazz harmonies, shoo-be-doo scat singing for the commentating trio (oddly amplified here but well sung) and colloquial dialogue.
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The week in classical: Trouble in Tahiti + A Quiet Place; The Turn of the ...

The Guardian 19 Oct 2024
He embraced jazz harmonies, shoo-be-doo scat singing for the commentating trio (oddly amplified here but well sung) and colloquial dialogue ... Only happiness is absent. In one version of the text (Bernstein wrestled with the work), Dinah asks.
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Unlikely Intersections: tQ's Highlights of Skaņu Mežs 2024

The Quietus 11 Oct 2024
Rich histories flow into sound poetry and extended vocal technique, whether avant-garde movements such as Dada and Lettrism, jazz vocal techniques such as scat, or supernatural glossolalia.
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The Weeknd busted mumbling the words to one of his biggest hits in Melbourne as ...

The Daily Mail 09 Oct 2024
Instead of singing legible words he hummed and scatted to the melody ... Fans in the comments speculated that he either forgot one of his biggest hits or was just plain tired of singing it.

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