Scat singing was made popular in the year of 1926. As a branch off of the Jazz Genre, Scat singing offers those same syncopated grooves that make you move your feet. So, who is responsible for the creation of Scat singing? How did it begin? And does it still hold relevance in today’s music culture? In vocal jazz, scat singing is vocal improvisation with wordless vocables, nonsense syllables or without words at all. Contrary to popular belief, scat singing is not unorganized noise. It is a technical and well thought out, although improvised. In scat singing, the singer improvises melodies and rhythms using the voice as an instrument. The birth of scat singing is said to have its origins in the West African practice of assigning fixed syllables to percussion patterns, but this style of singing was made famous by the great trumpeter and singer, Louis Armstrong. There were also other singers of the genre such as ragtime pioneers Tony Jackson and Ben Harney, who were already scat singing as early as the 20th century. There was also Gene Greene who made renditions of scat choruses in the song entitled “King of the Bungaloos” and other popular songs recorded in the years 1911 to 1917; But, Louis Armstrong popularized scat singing after he dropped the lyric sheet while recording the song Heebie Jeebies and started improvising syllables. Heebie Jeebies is the first commercial recording of a song with scat.
Because of this Louis Armstrong is known as the Pioneer of the Scat Singing Genre. Scat singing is in direct connection to Jazz as this style of singing is actually an improvisation of vocal jazz it self. It is difficult to explain the technicalities of scat singing, as it has hold no true technique. Scat is improvised music, through vocal syllable a musical inclination, the artist is free to do what every they please in a jazz-like manner. Scat is a free form of expressing ones self. A female and overall master of the scat singing genre, goes by the name of Ella Fitzgerald
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbL9vr4Q2LU
As i watched this video of her performing, I was amazed at comfortable Ms.Fitzgerald appeared as she bounced fluidly and confidently through each improvised musical sound. All musicians have not been able to master this aspect of singing beautifully with horn-like timbre, syncopations and swung rhythms, and stabs as Jazz Music. The art of creating this music might be made slightly less difficult to execute by a Jazz Musician. Scat singing it truly an intriguing, and intellectually creative, musical form! Although not as prominent in today’s commercial music, Scat singing will never loose its timelessness due to the unarguable fact that it is art!
