jazz scatting

Haresh...pardon my spotty knowledge of jazz history, but I believe
scatting is simply when a vocalist, using sort of nonsense syllables and
phrases, imitates the lines of a horn. I'm not sure who did it first,
probably several people more or less at the same time
(Armstrong?)...Ella Fitzgerald was a monster scatter, as was Jon
Hendricks...George Benson is also known for scatting along with his
guitar lines...hope that helps...Hstick PS...when Little Richard sang
"Wop bop a lu bop a lop bam bam..." that could be called rock and roll
scatting...Paul McCartney said, in an interview somewhere, that's it's a
lot harder to write a phrase like that then you might think...

--- In tuning@y..., "Neil Haverstick" <STICK@U...> wrote:

> scatting is simply when a vocalist, using sort of nonsense
syllables and
> phrases, imitates the lines of a horn.

Hi Neil, so there are two common things in scatting and nomtom:
nonsensical syllables, and instrument imitation. That IS
interesting. If this is matched by, as Monz indicated, improvisation
and use of microtones, we have further similarities.

Scatting and nomtom have seldom been compared, until now. Where can
we listen to scatting? Any CDs?

Regards,
Haresh.

Haresh wrote,

>If this is matched by, as Monz indicated, improvisation
>and use of microtones, we have further similarities.

In jazz, the only microtones regularly used are notes of the blues scale
(half-flat third, half-flat seventh . . .). But these tend to occur in
slower passages. Fast passages in jazz pretty much come from a 12-tET
vocabulary (though any real vocalist will make large errors relative to
that). The only exception I know of was an a cappella jazz arrangement in
which the singers were supposed to sing a fast run spanning a fifth by
dividing it into 8, instead of 7, equal parts.

>Where can
>we listen to scatting? Any CDs?

Ella Fitzgerald!

Haresh wrote,

>>If this is matched by, as Monz indicated, improvisation
>>and use of microtones, we have further similarities.

and Paul replied

>In jazz, the only microtones regularly used are notes of the blues scale
>(half-flat third, half-flat seventh . . .). But these tend to occur in
>slower passages. Fast passages in jazz pretty much come from a 12-tET
>vocabulary (though any real vocalist will make large errors relative to
>that). The only exception I know of was an a cappella jazz arrangement in
>which the singers were supposed to sing a fast run spanning a fifth by
>dividing it into 8, instead of 7, equal parts.

I don't really agree with the statement that fast Jazz passages even have 12-tET
as target pitches. I think the so called errors in relation to 12-tET [and even
standard or classical JI for that matter] are not errors at all but seem to obey
the kind of referential JI described by Boomsliter and Creel. In this system all
pitches are very accurately tuned by small number ratios to a chain of
references [a sort of unsounded cantus firmus] that proceeds [in jazz at least]
by an initial 5:4 and then by successive ranks of 3:2.

If an intonation tester were unaware of this practice they would also would say
that the intonation of singers especially was neither in [classical] JI nor in
12-tET but instead grossly inaccurate ! IMO this idea is erroneous. Melodic
pitch descrimination may be as accurate as simaltaneous pitch perception !

I used to have a flat mate who was a jazz trained drummer and pianist and he
unfortunately sung in exact 12-tET. It sounded awful! He was into all that
robotic type jazz [Chick Corea, Dave Weckl] where deviations from 12tet are
minimal.

Boomsliter and Creel did tests on blues and jazz and classical recordings and
found that they corresponded exactly with their theory of melodic intonation.

Further their theory was not a hypothesis that they just went about proving.
Their theory was developed from their initial research which involved getting
musicians to select intonations for melodies from an a sort of lapsteel guitar
whose results were later organised into a referential keyboard.

>>Where can
>>we listen to scatting? Any CDs?

>Ella Fitzgerald!

I bet Ella Fitzgerald's intonation was also based on this scheme.

Justin White

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