Scat singing, also called scatting, began in vocal jazz. It is a style where singers make up songs using sounds that are not real words, such as made-up syllables or no words at all. In scat singing, the singer creates melodies and rhythms using only their voice, treating it like an instrument instead of using it to speak. This is different from vocalese, which uses real words that are sung to match existing instrumental music solos.

Characteristics

Scat singing is created on the spot, but the melodies often use parts of scales, arpeggios, and common musical patterns, similar to how instrumentalists improvise. Scatting also follows musical structure. For example, all of Ella Fitzgerald's scat versions of "How High the Moon" use the same tempo. They start with a chorus that sings the lyrics normally, then introduce a "specialty chorus" that leads into the scat section. Will Friedwald compared Ella Fitzgerald to Chuck Jones, the cartoon director, because both use planned formulas in creative ways.

The selection of scat syllables is an important part of vocal jazz improvisation. Choosing specific sounds affects the pitch, how notes are shaped, tone, and how the voice resonates. These choices also show differences in singers' styles. Betty Carter often used soft sounds like "louie-ooie-la-la-la," while Sarah Vaughan preferred sounds like "shoo-doo-shoo-bee-ooo-bee," which include fricatives, plosives, and open vowels. Scat syllables can also mimic the sounds of instruments. For instance, Ella Fitzgerald's scat style imitates the sound of big bands from the swing era, while Sarah Vaughan's style reflects the sound of small bop-era ensembles.

Humor is another key part of scat singing. Bandleader Cab Calloway was known for using funny scatting. Other examples include Slim Gaillard, Leo Watson, and Bam Brown's 1945 song "Avocado Seed Soup Symphony," where singers repeat variations of the word "avocado" throughout the recording.

In addition to nonsensical words, humor in scat singing comes from using musical quotations. Leo Watson, who performed before many popular songs were widely known, often used nursery rhymes in his scatting. This technique is called "compression." Similarly, Ella Fitzgerald's scatting included many references to popular music. In her 1960 live recording of "How High the Moon" in Berlin, she quoted over a dozen songs, such as "The Peanut Vendor," "Heat Wave," "A-Tisket, A-Tasket," and "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes."

History

Improvisational singing of nonsense syllables happens in many cultures, such as diddling or lilting in Ireland, German yodeling, Sámi joik, and speaking in tongues in various religious traditions.

Although Louis Armstrong’s 1926 recording of “Heebie Jeebies” is often called the first modern song to use scatting, there are earlier examples. One early expert in ragtime scat singing was Gene Greene, who recorded scat choruses in his song “King of the Bungaloos” and others between 1911 and 1917. Entertainer Al Jolson used scatting in a few bars of his 1911 recording of “That Haunting Melody.” Gene Greene’s 1917 song “From Here to Shanghai,” which included fake Chinese-style scatting, and Gene Rodemich’s 1924 songs “Scissor Grinder Joe” and “Some of These Days” also came before Armstrong. Cliff “Ukulele Ike” Edwards used scatting in an interlude on his 1923 song “Old Fashioned Love” instead of an instrumental solo. Aileen Stanley, one of the early female singers to use scatting, included it at the end of a duet with Billy Murray in their 1924 hit “It Had To Be You.”

Jazz pianist Jelly Roll Morton said Joe Sims of Vicksburg, Mississippi, created scat singing around the start of the 20th century. In a conversation with Alan Lomax, Morton shared the history of scat:

Morton also claimed that he and Tony Jackson used scatting for novelty in 1906 and 1907, when Louis Armstrong was still in an orphanage. Don Redman and Fletcher Henderson included scat vocals in their 1925 recording of “My Papa Doesn’t Two-Time No Time,” five months before Armstrong’s 1926 recording of “Heebie Jeebies.”

Armstrong’s February 1926 performance of “Heebie Jeebies” is seen as the turning point for scatting. The techniques from Armstrong’s 1926 recording of “Heebie Jeebies” became the basis for modern scat. In a story that may not be true, Armstrong said that during the recording of “Heebie Jeebies” with his band The Hot Five, his sheet music fell to the floor. Not knowing the lyrics, he made up a nonsense melody to fill time, expecting the recording to be discarded. However, that version of the song was released:

Armstrong’s “Heebie Jeebies” became a popular hit, and scatting became closely linked to Armstrong. The song inspired Cab Calloway’s 1930s scat solos, which influenced George Gershwin’s use of scatting in his 1935 opera Porgy and Bess.

After the success of Armstrong’s “Heebie Jeebies,” many songs used scatting. In June 1927, Harry Barris and Bing Crosby of bandleader Paul Whiteman’s “The Rhythm Boys” used scatting in songs like “Mississippi Mud,” which Barris wrote.

On October 26, 1927, Duke Ellington’s Orchestra recorded “Creole Love Call,” featuring Adelaide Hall singing without words. Hall’s wordless singing and “evocative growls” were described as another instrument. A year later, in October 1928, Ellington repeated this in one of his versions of “The Mooche,” with Getrude “Baby” Cox singing scat after a muted trombone solo by Joe “Tricky Sam” Nanton.

During the Great Depression, groups like The Boswell Sisters often used scatting in their records, including complex scatting in harmony. An example is their version of “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing).” The Boswell Sisters’ creative use of scatting inspired Ella Fitzgerald, who practiced imitating Connee Boswell’s scatting for hours as a young girl.

Fitzgerald became a skilled scat singer and later claimed to be the “best vocal improviser jazz has ever had.” Critics have largely agreed with her. In the 1930s, other famous scat singers included Scatman Crothers, who later became known in movies and television, and British musician Nat Gonella, whose scat-singing recordings were banned in Nazi Germany.

As jazz music grew more complex, scat singing also evolved. During the bop era of the 1940s, more advanced vocal improvisation became popular. Annie Ross, a bop singer, said, “The [scat] music was so exciting, everyone wanted to do it.” Many singers followed: Eddie Jefferson, Betty Carter, Anita O’Day, Joe Carroll, Sarah Vaughan, Carmen McRae, Jon Hendricks, Babs Gonzales, Mel Torme, and Dizzy Gillespie.

Free jazz and influences from world musicians pushed jazz singing closer to avant-garde art music. In the 1960s, Ward Swingle, who had an unusual musical education, used scatting to perform the works of Bach, creating The Swingle Singers. Scatting was also used by Louis Prima and others in the song “I Wan’na Be Like You” from Disney’s The Jungle Book (1967).

The bop revival of the 1970s renewed interest in bop scat singing, and young scat singers saw themselves as continuing the classic bop tradition. Scat singing continues to change, and vocal improvisation now often develops separately from instrumental jazz.

In the mid-1990s, jazz artist John Paul Larkin (better known as Scatman John) briefly revived interest in the genre by blending jazz singing with pop music and eurodance. He had a worldwide hit with the song “Scatman (Ski Ba Bop Ba Dop Bop)” in 1994. Vocal improviser Bobby McFerrin showed that “wordless singing has traveled far from the concepts demonstrated by Louis Armstrong, Gladys Bentley, Cab Calloway, Anita O’Day, and Leo Watson.”

Vocal bass is a type of scat singing that mimics instrumental basslines usually played by bass musicians. A common technique in a cappella groups is to simulate an instrumental rhythm section, often with a vocal percussionist or beatboxer. Notable vocal bass artists include Tim Foust, Adam Chance, Bobby McFerrin, Al Jarreau, Reggie Watts, Alvin Chea, Joe Santoni, Avi Kaplan, Matt Sallee, Chris Morey, and Geoff Castellucci.

Many hip hop artists and rappers use scatting to create the rhythms of their raps. Tajai of the group Souls of Mischief said in the book How to Rap: “Sometimes my rhythms come from scatting. I usually make a scat skeleton and then fill in the words. I make a skeleton of the flow first, and then I put words into it.” The group Lifesavas described a similar process. Rapper Tech

Historical theories

Some writers believe that scat singing has its origins in African musical traditions. In many African music traditions, the human voice and instruments are considered equally important. Their sounds are very similar and blended together so closely that they are hard to tell apart. Dick Higgins also connects scat singing to African-American sound poetry traditions. In West Africa, it is common to change drum rhythms into vocal melodies. Specific rhythmic patterns are given particular syllables to sing. However, this idea doesn't explain the presence of free improvisation in early scat singing, where singers made up words on the spot. Because of this, it is more likely that scat singing developed separately in the United States.

Others suggest scat singing began when jazz musicians practiced singing short musical phrases before playing them on instruments. A common saying in early New Orleans jazz was "If you can't sing it, you can't play it." This allowed musicians like Louis Armstrong to perform both instrumental solos and scat singing.

Scat singing also shares similarities with the Irish and Scottish tradition of lilting or diddling. This style of music uses nonsensical syllables to sing non-vocal dance tunes.

Critical assessment

Scat singing allows jazz singers to improvise in the same way as jazz instrumentalists. This style of singing focuses on rhythm and harmony rather than lyrics. During the development of bebop, singers often used scat singing because it gave them a way to fully participate in jazz performances.

Scat singing is sometimes preferred because it avoids adding meaning through words. Instead, it focuses on the music itself, similar to instrumental music. This wordless approach allows scat singing to express feelings that words cannot fully describe. Music critic Will Friedwald wrote that Louis Armstrong's scat singing connected deeply with his emotions, expressing feelings so strong and real that they could not be described in words. His scat singing reached listeners directly, touching their hearts and souls.

Not everyone has accepted scat singing. Some critics, like Leonard Feather, strongly opposed it. He once said that scat singing, except for a few cases, should be banned. Feather also wrote the lyrics to the song "Whisper Not," which was later recorded by Ella Fitzgerald. Many famous jazz singers, including Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday, Jimmy Rushing, and Dinah Washington, did not use scat singing at all.