Scat Singing

Scat singing is a type of singing in Jazz where the singer makes nonsense syllables with the voice in an improvised fashion, mimicking instruments like the trumpet or clarinet.

One of the early jazz songs that is a precursor to scat singing is the folk song “A-Tisket, A-Tasket,” by Ella Fitzgerald. The words “A-Tisket, A-Tasket” do not have any meaning. It is merely used for its sound quality, to rhyme with “basket.” Children used to sing this song while playing the "Circle Game." Notice the call-response in this song. The “responses” are given by both the backing vocalists and the brass instruments.



In the following song Ella Fitzgerald sings “Take the A-Train” in a composition by the great jazz pianist Duke Ellington. Listen to her great improvised scat singing. Although there is improvised scat singing, the melody is still relatively easy to follow. An interesting feature of this song is how Ella Fitzgerald improvises the lyrics. Listen to the second time you hear "Can't you hear those engines drumming." Instead of singing the next line which is "All aboard, get on the 'A' train" like the first time round, she sings another line and and starts to mix the lyric lines in an improvised fashion. This is another interesting characteristic of jazz, that even the lyrics can be improvised. Scats singing is probably the ultimate form of vocal improvisation.



In the following song “How High the Moon,” the melody is rather difficult to follow. The melodic contour is much more complicated, leading into a very complicated melody during the scat singing. Notice how Fitzgerald mimics the complicated obbligato of the clarinet, and later the timbre of the cornet. In this performance she also clearly moves between moments of improvised singing (playing around with the words of the lyrics) and pure scat singing (saying no words, only singing nonsensicle syllables).



In the next video you can listen to Sarah Vaughn singing scat alongside Wynton Marsalis playing the cornet. Notice how the two instruments (voice and cornet) perform together, sometimes as counterpoint melodies, other times in a caller-response fashion. Also notice how Sarah Vaugh “copies” the trumpet at times.

The title of this song is “Autumn Leaves.” There are no lyrics, only scat singing. One can probably interpret the scat as a vocal interpretation of autumn leaves blowing around in the wind. Close your eyes and listen to the song again, while imagining leaves blowing in gusts of autumn wind.