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Does voice doubling an instrument's melody while improvising have a name?

Music: Practice & Theory Asked on December 21, 2021

According to wikipedia, scat singing is:

In vocal jazz, scat singing is vocal improvisation with wordless
vocables, nonsense syllables or without words at all.[2][3] In scat
singing, the singer improvises melodies and rhythms using the voice as
an instrument rather than a speaking medium.

But does it have a name when you sing doubling the melody of the instrument you are playing while improvising? This is very common in jazz music, related to scat (that’s why I mentioned it).

This can only be possible in instruments like guitar, piano and bass for obvious reasons.

2 Answers

The answer is no; the style of scat singing in unison along with an instrumental solo, or doubling it at an octave (like George Benson) does not have a specific, concise name (as far as I can tell).

Answered by Biscuit Taylor on December 21, 2021

In the case where an instrumentalist doubles their own improvisation with voice, there is not a specific term. Slam Stewart made his name doubling his bass in this way, having gotten the idea from Ray Perry, who did the same in his violin solos (recording not readily available). In general, it's considered something of a novelty.

Some musicians famously vocalize while they play, but not with the intention of, say, Slam Stewart. Standout examples are Glenn Gould and Keith Jarrett. In this video, Glenn Gould is actually singing along (about 5 sec. in), though not with the intention of featuring his voice. And here is a compilation of Keith Jarrett vocalizations.

Vocalese is the term for adding lyrics to and singing an instrumental melody. The term is sometimes also applied to any vocal realization on an instrumental part.

Wikipedia has a good entry on the term and some history of the practice.

To pick just one particularly well-known example, Eddie Jefferson turned James Moody's improvisation on "I'm in the Mood for Love" (link to Frances Langford's premier of the song) into a vocalese version.

Here is a YouTube link to James Moody's version. (Introduction by Dizzy Gillespie; James Moody begins at 1:45) And here is "Moody's Mood for Love" by Eddie Jefferson.

Answered by Aaron on December 21, 2021

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