Scat Singing: A Timbral and Phonemic Analysis

Scat singing, the usual medium for jazz vocal improvisation, is usually understood as singers imitating instrumentalists. By dissociating the vocal line from verbal meaning, scat singers venture into the realm of so-called "absolute" music, where musical sounds are free of the extra-musical associations that words create. An analytic approach to scat that grows from the distinctive features of jazz vocal performance practice is illustrated with a focus on timbre. Using phonetic symbols, the wide palette of vocal timbres available to scat singers can be notated and the ways in which these singers employ their sonic raw materials can be examined.