Jazz Vocalese

Join us for our bi-monthly music-listening book club!

In anticipation of Kurt Elling’s performance with the Musicfest Big Band, we’ll listen through a playlist of Vocalese pieces, an incredible Jazz vocal style Elling’s known for. Vocalese has all of the virtuosic vocal athletics of scat singing, which was popularized by musicians like Cab Callaway and Ella Fitzgerald, but instead of imitating isntrumental sounds with syllables, singers tailor lyrics to fit instrumental solos. Made famous by musicians like Eddie Jefferson, Al Jarreau, and groups like Manhattan Transfer, Vocalese highlights and dramatizes some of the classic pieces of Jazz.

Our playlist is in diads, with the vocalese version and original instrumental version both listed. As you consider the pairs, do you feel like there are works where the words truly add to the performance? Are their pairs where the instrumental version is more appealing for you? Do you notice that some singers work to mimic the original instrument more than others? We’ll discuss this and more when we meet on November 9!

Any songs you’d like to add? Email musicalive@azmusicfest.org and we’ll add them!