Three Scats (1988)

These are etude/character pieces in three jazz styles. Advanced intermediate; no improvisation is required, though chord symbols and some introductory suggestions are provided for those who’d like to improvise on these. Scat singing is the remarkable ability of many jazz vocalists to use their voice as an instrument, improvising melodic lines with nonsense syllables in place of the notes that might be improvised on an instrument. Each titles is the syllables that I imagine a vocalist might scat for the opening motives; each piece goes on to obsess with that motive. “Bop-shoo-ee” is in a contemporary quasi-latin style of a sort that players like Chick Corea might use (about 2:00); “Fwee-loo” is a lush and tender ballad (about 2:35); “Oop-a-doo-wah, ba-doo-wah” is in swing rhythm with a 12-tone bass line and a sort of big band vibe (about 2:05). The set is commercially available from Manduca Music here.