What is scat?

«Shubi-Dubi» instead of words. What is the true message of a jazz vocalist?

Improvisation is an essential part of jazz music; this genre couldn’t exist without it. As Travis A. Jackson said, jazz is a kind of music that consists of improvisation and collaborations in a group of musicians. Every musician that has tried improvising admits that this process is akin to a challenge that requires every bit of musicality one has got in every given moment. Improvisation is a process where knowledge meets musicality and spontaneity. [Travis A. Jackson. The Cambridge Companion to Jazz. Jazz as Musical Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002.] Nowadays, when a new to jazz listener attends a concert and hears a vocal solo (in this case — scat), he might get confused by what he’s hearing because most often, it’s the role of an instrumentalist to play a solo. This is why I decided to share fragments of my master’s essay that might help with that! The goal of this essay was to review the development of scat — vocal improvisation in jazz music in America; I have chosen the period starting at the beginning of the 20th century and up until the 60s when free jazz first appeared and changed things up a lot. I hope that this article will help understand how and why vocalists do what they do and how they do it, and maybe next time attending a concert where a vocalist seemed to forget both the lyrics and the melody will not appear bizarre! The full version of the essay is available in Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music’s library.

So, let’s get straight to the chase! The specific period I have chosen as my subject of study was not accidental — with the arrival of free jazz, vocal improvisation began transforming rapidly, and instead of certain syllables and regular notes, vocalists started utilizing every sound they could produce — shouts, cries, growls, etc. With this rapid change, scat began losing its popularity and went almost dormant until the 70s, when it made its comeback. But the period from the beginning of the 20s century until the 60s scat is considered the time of scat’s birth and development. Scat isn’t just a stepping stone in developing vocal improvisation as a paradigm but a completely independent musical genre still widely used in traditional jazz.

So what is scat? Scat is vocal improvisation using wordless vocables, nonsense syllables, or without words at all. [John S. Davis. Historical Dictionary of Jazz. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow press, INC, 2012. P. 231.] Unofficially the birth of scat is linked with a famous recording by Louis Armstrong where, according to the legend, he dropped his sheets and thus had nowhere to read lyrics from, so he started improvising with random phrases that just happened to be «scat-a-lee-dat», later on, the first part of this phrase («scat» ) was used as a name for what he did. [Bob Stoloff. Scat! Vocal Improvisation Techniques. Brooklyn, New-York: Gerald and Sarzin Publishing Co., 1996. P. 6.] Even though Louis was not the first singer to improvise vocally in his performances, he still was the one person who helped solidify vocal improvisation’s position in the world of jazz music.

Even though the «Heebie Jeebies» tune recorded in 1926 by Armstrong is considered the first one that had scat in it, other singers present several earlier examples. One of those examples was Al Jolson and his tune «That Haunting Melody», recorded in 1911, where the singer demonstrated something that might be perceived as improvisation. [Michael Freedland. Jolson: The Story of Al Jolson. V. Mitchell, 2007. P. 302.] And even though that improvisational part was short, and some might even argue that it is not improvisation at all, it nevertheless demonstrates that already these early vocalists craved the freedom improvisation gives and wanted to carve their own space in the world of instrumental musicianship.

Still, Armstrong’s scat technique gave life to the idea that the sounding of instruments and vocals can be studied more carefully and then integrated into improvisation — saxophonists tried to imitate vocal lines, vocalists tried imitating instruments, and some examples of that sounded so real that at times it was hard to tell one from another. This technique is called «Instru-Vocal» and was marvelously demonstrated by Baby Cox and Leo Watson. [Bob Stoloff. Scat! Vocal Improvisation Technique. Brooklyn, New-York: Gerald and Sarzin Publishing Co., 1996. P. 7.]

Along with the birth of scat, there can be noticed a rapid increase in the number of noticeable vocalists — a singer now was more than just a frontman that sings the theme and smiles; he becomes a part of the creative process. Of course, technical evolution helped to advance the cause and use of vocals more frequently — creation and development of sound amplification, to be more specific — a microphone made it easier for singers to gain access to more concert venues and musician setups. It is not a surprise that soon, some great vocalists appeared on the jazz scene and became famous worldwide; some of them are Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Betty Carter, Sheila Jordan, Jon Hendricks, Mel Torme, and many more. Formal jazz education also began forming — it is important to note that up until 1947, it was only possible to learn jazz either through private lessons or through oral tradition. Now though, it is extraordinary how many institutions provide the opportunity to learn jazz in Latvia as well.

Historical development of scat

Origins of scat singing

As Jan Shapiro said in her book «So you want to sing jazz», to sing jazz, you first need to learn to sing blues. [Jan Shapiro. So you want to sing jazz. A guide for professionals. ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD. Maryland, USA. 2015. P. 2] Origins of blues can be found in the 17th century, when America first started massively obtaining slaves from different parts of Africa.

These people brought their own culture; all sorts of drums were actively utilized, and every drum had a specific tone. In the 18th century, New Orleans had a tradition — slaves would gather on the Congo square, play drums, sing, and dance in their only free day of the week. These songs didn’t sound anything like the ones on the radio nowadays, more like a collective improvisation with some repetitive motives. Usually, someone was to take a leading role; they would start singing a melodic line that others would repeat. Melodic variations depended on the length of the phrase, and the musical scales used were very different from the ones Europeans were used to hearing and using. Later, these scales turned into a building block for what we now know as the blues scale, which is often used in jazz improvisation.

This collective singing didn’t occur only during the time on the Congo square but extended into the working hours — while harvesting cotton, one soloist would start a motive, and other slaves would reply him, and this soon became a «work song» — shouts and «call and response» forms used as a structure fin improvisation. Later on, the blues we know now developed — in the second half of the 19th century, after abolishing slavery. The unconscious use of the blues scale, work song call, and response form by the singers helped add spices and embellish the performances. This became a considerable input from the Afro-American community. In the early 20th century, blues artists began actively performing in front of a wider crowd. Other genres started borrowing some blues elements and integrating them into their performances.

As I’ve mentioned above, singers, even though there were very few of them, started improvising even before Armstrong — the beginning of the 20th century has some prominent examples of vocal experiments. One of the brightest examples of such experiments is the famous song by Al Jolson, «That Haunting Melody”, recorded in 1911. — the singer improvised in several bars in the middle of the composition. Approximately at the same time, maybe even because of this tune, more singers started exploring the capabilities of their improvisational skills — some even tried to imitate the sounds of instruments, thus creating a singing approach based more on instrumental principles [Anne Farnsworth. Jazz Vocal Techniques. An instrumental approach to jazz singing. Los Angeles: JAZZMEDIA PRESS, 2012. P. 7]. And although they didn’t use the syllables we know now as jazz syllables, they did embellish their melodies using the blues scale, changing the melody’s rhythm and singing it before or after it was supposed to be sung, thus extending it in time.

And then the famous Louis Armstrong story took place — he said that he had dropped the sheet of paper to the floor during a recording session, so he had to improvise with the lyrics, and that’s why he started singing whatever came to mind and imitating the sounds of his trumpet. Later this singing technique was named «scat». [Ted Gioia. The history of jazz. Oxford University press. Oxford. 1997. P.61] Almost simultaneously, Duke Ellington had an idea to make some additions to one of his compositions — «Creole Love Call» — he decided to embellish the vocal part by asking the vocalist Adelaide Hall to imitate the sounds of a trombone. This version was recorded in 1927 and in 1928 had stayed in 19th place in the «Billboard» chart for the whole week.

Definition and development of scat singing.

As Anne Farnsworth said, scat singing is creating a melodic line spontaneously with syllables and sounds and is more closely linked to the instrumental solo. [Anne Farnsworth. Jazz Vocal Techniques. An instrumental approach to jazz singing. Los Angeles: JAZZMEDIA PRESS, 2012. P. 8]. This definition can be supplemented by one provided by William R. Bauer, who stated that scat singing is considered to be a technique where singers imitate instruments. [William R. Bauer. Scat Singing: A timbral and phonemic Analysis. P. 303] There is a pretty simple explanation to that statement — the formal jazz education for vocalists became available only in the 70s, which means that jazz singers could only study through listening to some early examples of vocal improvisation or to their colleagues instrumentalists, and that is also the reason why scat singing developed in a relatively slow fashion. Another definition of scat singing is provided by the vocal solo transcription book «Scat Omnibook» ; it states that scat singing is a form of jazz vocal improvisation that does not use words; instead, the vocalist either uses nonsense syllables or imitates musical instruments. [SCAT OMNIBOOK. For Vocalists and C Instruments Transcribed Exactly from the Original Recordings. Hal Leonard, 2015. Page 9.] That means that the composition «Creole Love Call» by Duke Ellington also can be seen as an example of scat singing. But only with the famous Armstrong «Heebie Jeebies» solo vocalists, and also instrumentalists, began actively using scat, for example, Bing Crosby and his band «Rhythm Boys» in the late 20s improvised imitating the wind instrument sounds and even percussions, and Crosby himself already used scat. Also, scat can be heard in a 1933 recording «Zaz Zuh Zaz» by Cab Calloway, where he used the famous «Call and Response» form and repeated rhythmic patterns.

But the most active scat singing development can be related to none other than the famous Ella Fitzgerald. Her career started in 1934 when she, having no experience, won the «Amateur Night in Harlem» competition [Bill Kirchner. The OXFORD COMPANION TO JAZZ. Oxford university press, Inc. 2000. P. 238] and even though at that point she was more interested in dancing, her intuitive sense of rhythm and improvisation helped in gaining the title of the first lady of jazz; now she is considered to be the excellent example of a scat singer.

During the big band era in the 40s, Ella’s singing developed rapidly. Before that, the main focus in music was placed on the instrumental parts of the tunes, while the job of a vocalist was to walk on stage, sing the melody and then free the space up for instrumentalists to perform their solo part. Mainly vocalists spent their non-singing time on the side waiting for the time when they were needed, that is exactly what Ella did as well, and that is where she heard and got inspired by the solos her colleagues played. [Jan Shapiro. So you want to sing jazz. A guide for professionals. ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD. Maryland, USA. 2015. P. 68] That is also how she learned how to incorporate into her singing phrases that were more instrumental in their essence. The difference between Ella and another very significant lady of jazz — Sarah Vaughan is that Ella had no musical education and learned everything by ear when Sarah could play the piano professionally, thus was able to use an instrumental approach to improvisation.

In the 40s, alongside the development of bebop music, scat experienced its most rapid growth; probably that is the reason for Bob Stoloff stating that scat is mainly a technique related to bebop. [Bob Stoloff. Scat! Vocal Improvisation Techniques. Brooklyn, New-York: Gerald and Sarzin Publishing Co., 1996. P. 6] The smaller lineups took up stage and gave vocalists more space and freedom for self-expression but also required to be able to improvise over a faster tempo; thus, the vocalists had to have excellent musical hearing, knowledge in jazz harmony, and overall good singing technique, that would help to maintain a clear and clean tone and voice timbre. Not all vocalists were able to keep up with such demands. Still, undoubtedly this period helped some noticeable vocalists to appear — Ella and Sarah, Anita O’Day, Betty Carter (although her career started slightly later, at the end of the 40s — the beginning of 50s), and others.

Later on, we can observe further development of scat singing — from the aggressive manner of Anita to the soft singing of Ched Baker. Then, with the appearance of free jazz in the 60s, scat lost its popularity and returned only in the 70s with such artists as Bobby McFerrin and Al Jarreau. [Bob Stoloff. Scat! Vocal Improvisation Techniques. Brooklyn, New-York: Gerald and Sarzin Publishing Co., 1996. P. 12]

Noticeable scat singers in the pre-free jazz times:

Louis Armstrong (1901—1971) — trumpet player, vocalist, founder of scat singing; his masterful playing and excellent singing won over a vast audience despite racial prejudices. [Dave Gelly. 30-second jazz. The 50 crucial concepts, styles, and performers, each explained in half a minute. UK: Ivy press. 2016. P.95]
Bing Crosby (1903—1977) — vocalist, one of the first scat singers, maintained the light and straightforward approach to music that comes from Dixieland until the end of his singing career. [Dave Gelly. 30-second jazz. The 50 crucial concepts, styles, and performers, each explained in half a minute. UK: Ivy press. 2016. P.112]
Adelaide Hall (19011933) — vocalist, member of Duke Ellington orchestra, imitated trombone sounds.
Cab Calloway (1907—1994) — vocalist, bandleader, one of the most active scat singers, a prominent figure in the big bands of the 30s and the 40s, known for his eccentric outfits and behavior. [Dave Gelly. 30-second jazz. The 50 crucial concepts, styles, and performers, each explained in half a minute. UK: Ivy press. 2016. P.80]
«The Boswell Sisters»: Martha (1905—1958), Connee (1907—1976), Helvetia (1911—1988) — a vocal trio, inserted complicated scat vocals into their performances, improvised simultaneously. One of the most noticeable recordings — a version of «Heebie Jeebies» in 1931 proved that every song could be sung in swing. [Dave Gelly. 30-second jazz. The 50 crucial concepts, styles, and performers, each explained in half a minute. UK: Ivy press. 2016. P.127]
Eddie Jefferson (1918—1979) — vocalist, one of the founders of vocalese singing, wrote lyrics to instrumental solos. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/eddie-jefferson-mn0000168784/biography
Anita O’Day (1919—2006) — vocalist, known for her dry and sharp tone, skillful scat singing, and the ability to vary the melody rhythmically. Recorded more than ten best vocal albums for the «Verve» record company in the 50s and the 60s. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/anita-oday-mn0000479028/biography
Carmen McRae (1922—1994.) — vocalist, known for her ability to stretch musical phrases in time, is considered one of the most impressive jazz singers. Famous for her misty tone and using bebop phrases in ballads. [The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, edited by Barry Kernfeld; St. Martin’s Press, New York, 1988]
Jon Hendricks (1921) — vocalist, lyric author. One of the founders of jazz vocalese. Considered to be one of the best scat singers of all time.
Dizzy Gillespie (1917—1993) — trumpet player, vocalist, composer. Bebop populariser and scat singing developer. [Dave Gelly. 30-second jazz. The 50 crucial concepts, styles, and performers, each explained in half a minute. UK: Ivy press. 2016. P.55]
Ella Fitzgerald (1917—1996) — vocalist, First lady of swing, could easily switch between ballads and fast-tempo swing tunes. [Dave Gelly. 30-second jazz. The 50 crucial concepts, styles, and performers, each explained in half a minute. UK: Ivy press. 2016. P.108]
Sarah Vaughan (1924—1990) — vocalist, owner of a very unusual voice with a wide range, famous for her instrumental phrasing. [Dave Gelly. 30-second jazz. The 50 crucial concepts, styles, and performers, each explained in half a minute. UK: Ivy press. 2016. P.108]
Betty Carter (1929—1998) is a vocalist known for her extraordinary scat technique and noticeable teacher.
Sheila Jordan (1928) — vocalist, known for excellent scat singing technique and improvisation skills in duet with a double bass. A respected teacher.

The principles and examples of scat singing

Scat Syllables

As mentioned above, scat is a form of vocal improvisation that uses nonsensical syllables instead of actual text. The definition of scat syllables could be as follows — since a jazz vocalist imitates instruments, he tries to use the syllables that would be appropriate when imitating specific instruments and his playing manner. For example, when we look at Armstrong’s scat in «Heebie Jeebies», we mostly hear «Du», «Dee», «Da», «Du-wa» and «Bop» [Scat syllables 146], which indicates the attempt to imitate the sound of his own trumpet.

With time the syllable collection that vocalists used has widened and the choice of the syllables became interconnected with the structure of the musical phrase the singer chose to sing, the rhythmical pattern of it (like «doo-wee-yah» for triplets and «doo-yah» for swing eighths [Michele Weir. THE AMERICAN CHORAL DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION CHORAL JOURNAL JUNE/JULY 2015. The scat singing dialect. An Introduction to Vocal Improvisation. P. 32]). Vocalists took into consideration the articulation — which syllables would suit best the more flowing singing style of legato or staccato («dut» or «bop» in case of staccato or «dee-doo-ya-da» in case of legato), or when copying instrumental articulation («Tproo» when imitating the trumpet or «tut» or «ka-ka-tu» when imitating drums or percussion instruments).

Each vocalist was and still is free to choose the syllables he loves best, and that also became a signature mark of each specific vocalist. For example, Ella Fitzgerald frequently used «oy» or «droo-dee-rah» and sometimes she imitated industrial sounds, like a motorcycle. Sarah Vaughan often used «sa-doo-li-yah-doo» and «shoobi-doo», Chet Baker sang softly and with a very breathy tone, using «thoo-dee» and «deeh-eeh-dah» [Scat and market 154], and, as famous Betty Carter once said to a young scat vocalist — why would you use a «shu-bee-doo-bee» when they belong to Sarah and comes from the 50s? You should find your own syllables. [William R. Bauer. Scat Singing: A timbral and phonemic Analysis. P. 315]

Melodic variations — changing rhythm

Jazz improvisation is based on many different things, but most teachers point out that everything starts with the melody. The same has been said by the famous Michele Weir, whose books are owned by almost every vocalist that starts exploring scat singing. In her article «The scat singing dialect. Introduction to vocal improvisation», she suggests that young improvisers should consider the melody their starting point in learning the craft. [Michele Weir. THE AMERICAN CHORAL DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION CHORAL JOURNAL JUNE/JULY 2015. The scat singing dialect. An Introduction to Vocal Improvisation. P. 30] Changing the lyrics to syllables might help change the rhythm and then make further alterations. Undoubtedly, changing the melody’s rhythm should follow the swing feel, and with that same «feel», every jazz education also begins, whether it’s vocal or instrumental. Armstrong, who was already an experienced jazz musician, had no problems in keeping up with the swing feel in his scat, and that is how and why his «Heebie Jeebies» recording became such an important milestone in scat — he was able to keep the melody, replace the lyrics with scat syllables and easily change the rhythmical pattern of the phrases without changing them completely and thus keeping up with the swing feel.

Phrases that create rhythmic motives

One of the most famous scat singers, Anita O’Day, was known for her sharp scatting technique and tone with close to no vibrato. [Bill Kirchner. The OXFORD COMPANION TO JAZZ. Oxford university press, Inc. 2000. P. 479] In her improvisation, she often used phrases based more on the rhythm than the melody, she would take one note and create different rhythmic patterns with it. She used the same technique not only in her scat but also while singing the theme, demonstrating the freedom of being in the tune. An excellent example of the use of that technique could be her 1953 recording «Lover, Come Back To Me» from the album «Anita O’Day Collates». She begins her improvisation with one long note and starts creating different rhythmic patterns with the same note; then, she develops her solo with a new melody, still maintaining the same tendency of using rhythmic patterns and coming back to the note she started with.

The exact manner can also be noticed in the tune by Cab Calloway, «Zaz Zuh Zaz», where the listener can hear the rhythmic phrases and a motive that replicates the snare drum, which in turn is a demonstration of the mentioned before instrument imitation.

Instrumental approach — arpeggio, scales, and chromatic motion

Although it all begins with changing the melody, with time, the approach to improvisation developed, and «new melodies» became more complicated, intricate, and more exciting and exciting to listen to and challenging for vocalists because a more in-depth understanding of music theory became necessary. While vocalists were learning to improvise from the instrumentalists, they unavoidably began using a more instrumental approach, which meant basing their improvisations in the melody and the tune’s harmonies. That is when the chords, scales, and keys come into play. As Michele Weir teaches, it all begins with chords and chord progressions. Starting with the root note, a singer would move on to the chord tones, approach notes, chromatic or half-tone motions, and then scales corresponding to the chords. [Michele Weir. THE AMERICAN CHORAL DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION CHORAL JOURNAL JUNE/JULY 2015. The scat singing dialect. An Introduction to Vocal Improvisation. P. 36] Usually, an improviser never uses only one of the components, like chord tones or halftones, the instrumental approach consists of all of these things combined together, although in some compositions we might see that one particular technique prevails. For example, if we listen closely to what Bing Crosby used in his 1953 tune «Dinah» from the album «Some Fine Old Chestnuts», we can hear an apparent half-tone motion that is being used in almost every bar. The same improvisation also utilizes intervals, approach notes, and sliding motion that comes from blues.

An excellent example of using arpeggios, or chord tones, in improvisation can be heard in Sarah Vaughan’s «All Of Me». She begins her solo with a downward arpeggio and continues with the same motion only in the opposite direction combining it with bluesy slides and half-tone motions.

And the last example will be of a motion within a scale — the famous recording by Ella Fitzgerald — «Take The A-train», where the first two bars consist of a downward movement in a C major scale and conditions with the same pattern slight detour in the fourth bar.

Conclusion

Although in the previous section scat was in a way divided into four parts, it is essential to keep in mind that all of the approaches coexist simultaneously in perfect harmony. Even in the first scat example («Heebie Jeebies»), it was all heard — changing the melody, changing the rhythm, arpeggios, etc. Maybe today, this solo is seen as an easy one when compared with improvisations by Sarah Vaughan, where she demonstrates excellent knowledge and understanding of jazz theory and the ease of using altered notes, it was «Heebie Jeebies» that became that one song that triggered the development of jazz vocal improvisation and helped vocalists stand on the same ledge as instrumentalists. This requires some effort — vocalists don’t have keys; he can rely only on his ears and knowledge; maybe that’s why it took so long for scat to earn its rightful place in jazz.

Even though vocal jazz improvisation is closely connected to scat, not all famous jazz singers used scat, which doesn’t necessarily mean that they didn’t improvise. For example, Billie Holiday ignored scat, if it can be put that way, but was famous for her ability to phrase the melody in a unique way. Similar can be said about Dinah Washington — it is impossible to find a recording where she would sing scat, but she still is considered a jazz singer because improvisation can’t be seen only as singing solo, it can be perceived as a way of interpreting the melody. For example, if we compare two versions of «All Of Me», one by Ella and another by Sarah, we would notice stark differences in seconds. That demonstrates that different singers perceive the melody in their way and can change it in a way that would show their unique character.

Improvisation in jazz exists everywhere because from the very beginning, this music was not notated; it was passed on orally, every transfer came with slight alterations, and the tendency kept on living. Each musician added something of his own, followed his instincts and intuition. [Jan Shapiro. So you want to sing jazz. A guide for professionals. ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD. Maryland, USA. 2015. P. 129] Same can be said for vocalists — improvisation doesn’t only mean scat, but it also involves active listening, abilities to extend melody note and rhythm-wise, even creating a new melody altogether while still based on the same harmonies. One huge difference between vocalists and instrumentalists is that singers don’t have keys and can rely only on their hearing and knowledge. And here you can also see an interesting interaction — vocalists attempt to imitate instruments, copying articulation and trying to sing instrumentally instead of following the instincts of the voice (choosing smaller intervals could be one example of that); at the same time, blues musicians attempt to imitate voices, using the properties of the slave songs — slides, cries, etc.

And then we come to scat singing, which allows vocalists to develop their knowledge and, because of scat, to gain an equal place among instruments as soloists, not only performers of the choruses, in her book «JAZZ VOCAL TECHNIQUE. An instrumental approach to jazz singing» Anne Farnsworth mentioned a famous jazz joke: Question: How do you know when a singer is knocking at your door? Answer: Because she can’t find her key and doesn’t know when to come in. [Anne Farnsworth. Jazz Vocal Techniques. An instrumental approach to jazz singing. Los Angeles: JAZZMEDIA PRESS, 2012. P. 24] For those readers who are not that well averse to music terminology — the key is the song’s tonality, and «when to come in» means when to start singing. Unfortunately, it’s the harsh reality that such singers exist, but thanks to such artists as Armstrong, Fitzgerald, and others, the role of vocals in jazz has changed, and now young vocalists spend their time honing their craft, learning music theory to be on the same level intellectually as instrumentalists. Of course, formal vocal jazz education hadn’t yet reached perfection, as Michele Weir points out when vocalists are being invited to join instrumental improvisation classes (which is good but has its downsides, like not taking into consideration the peculiarities of the human body and singing technique), and that is something I can back up by my personal experience. [AN: this essay was written in 2017, this may not be relevant at the time of publication] I have spent eight years as a student and had come to a conclusion that the amount of workshops for vocalists is unsatisfactory — compared to instrumental workshops vocal classes are only some 20% of all possibilities, and that is not mentioning guest lecturers from the motherland of jazz music — the USA. The situation in other European schools isn’t much better. I have participated in workshops in Amsterdam’s academy, where a unique program for vocalists was developed, which sounded impressive. Still, in reality, all the singers were placed in one group despite the differences in levels. Vocalists were separated entirely from instrumentalists, and the program suggested to us reminded more of a joke from Anne Farnsworth’s book than of something that a higher education institution would offer. These were the conditions where singers were not considered musicians, and these conditions were created by organizers and proved the existing stereotype. But everything changes, develops, grows, vocalists write books about scat, scat singing continues to evolve, a basis for further development of vocal improvisation in other genres has been established now outside of jazz music, and that is extremely important in the context of the overall development of music as a paradigm.

Literature and other sources

Travis A. Jackson. The Cambridge Companion to Jazz. Jazz as Musical Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002.
John S. Davis. Historical Dictionary of Jazz. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow press, INC, 2012. P. 231.
Bob Stoloff. Scat! Vocal Improvisation Techniques. Brooklyn, New-York: Gerald and Sarzin Publishing Co., 1996. P. 6.
Michael Freedland. Jolson: The Story of Al Jolson. V. Mitchell, 2007. P. 302.
Bob Stoloff. Scat! Vocal Improvisation TRecniques. Brooklyn, New-York: Gerald and Sarzin Publishing Co., 1996. P. 7.
Mark Levine. The JAZZ THEORY Book. Petaluma: SHER MUSIC Co., 1995.
Anne Farnsworth. Jazz Vocal Techniques. An instrumental approach to jazz singing. Los Angeles: JAZZMEDIA PRESS, 2012.
Bill Kirchner. The OXFORD COMPANION TO JAZZ. Oxford univercity press, Inc. 2000
Jan Shapiro. So you want to sing jazz. A guide for professionals. ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD. Maryland, USA. 2015.
Ted Gioia. The history of jazz. Oxford University press. Oxford. 1997.
Michele Weir. THE AMERICAN CHORAL DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION CHORAL JOYRNAL JUNE/JULY 2015. The scat singing dialect. An Introduction to Vocal Improvisation.
William R. Bauer. Scat Singing: A timbral and phonemic Analysis.
Dave Gelly. 30-second jazz. The 50 crucial concepts, styles and performers, each expained in half a minute. UK: Ivy press. 2016.
http://www.allmusic.com/artist/eddie-jefferson-mn0000168784/biography
http://www.allmusic.com/artist/anita-oday-mn0000479028/biography
The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, edited by Barry Kernfeld; St. Martin’s Press, New York, 1988