Ella Fitzgerald

Lore & Background

Ella Fitzgerald's scat singing was shaped by the swing-era big bands with which she performed; her improvisation mimicked the sounds of those ensembles. This contrasted with Sarah Vaughan, whose scatting mimicked that of her accompanying bop-era small combos. Fitzgerald's syllable choices influenced the pitch, articulation, coloration, and resonance of her performance. Critic Will Friedwald compared Ella Fitzgerald to Chuck Jones directing his Roadrunner cartoon—each uses predetermined formulas in innovative ways. The Boswell Sisters' "inventive use of scat singing was a source for Ella Fitzgerald." As a young girl, Fitzgerald often practiced imitating Connee Boswell's scatting for hours. Fitzgerald later claimed to be the "best vocal improviser jazz has ever had," and critics since then have been in almost universal agreement with her.

Reader's Guide

Ella Fitzgerald's scat performances of "How High the Moon" demonstrate a consistent structure: a fixed tempo, an opening chorus of straight lyric reading, a "specialty chorus" introducing the scat, and then the scat itself. Her 1960 live recording of "How High the Moon" in Berlin quoted over a dozen songs, including "The Peanut Vendor," "Heat Wave," "A-Tisket, A-Tasket," and "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes." This technique is called using a compression. Fitzgerald's improvisation mimicked the sounds of swing-era big bands, while Sarah Vaughan's mimicked that of bop-era small combos. The Boswell Sisters' scat singing was a source for Fitzgerald, who practiced imitating Connee Boswell's scatting for hours as a young girl. Fitzgerald claimed to be the "best vocal improviser jazz has ever had," a claim with which critics have been in almost universal agreement.

Did You Know?

• Ella Fitzgerald's scat performances of "How High the Moon" always used the same tempo and structure: a straight lyric reading, then a specialty chorus, then the scat itself.
• In her 1960 live Berlin recording of "How High the Moon," Fitzgerald quoted over a dozen songs, including "The Peanut Vendor" and "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes."
• Fitzgerald's scatting mimicked the sounds of swing-era big bands, while Sarah Vaughan's scatting mimicked bop-era small combos.
• As a young girl, Fitzgerald practiced imitating Connee Boswell's scatting for hours.
• Fitzgerald claimed to be the "best vocal improviser jazz has ever had," and critics have been in almost universal agreement with her.

The Architecture of Improvisation

Ella Fitzgerald's scat performances of "How High the Moon" consistently used the same tempo, began with a chorus of a straight reading of the lyric, moved to a "specialty chorus" introducing the scat chorus, and then the scat itself. Will Friedwald compared Ella Fitzgerald to Chuck Jones directing his Roadrunner cartoon—each uses predetermined formulas in innovative ways.

The Sound of the Big Band

A comparison of the scatting styles of Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan reveals that Fitzgerald's improvisation mimics the sounds of swing-era big bands with which she performed, while Vaughan's mimics that of her accompanying bop-era small combos. Syllable choice influences the pitch, articulation, coloration, and resonance of the performance.

A Quotation Machine

Humor is communicated in scat singing through the use of musical quotation. In her 1960 recording of "How High the Moon" live in Berlin, Ella Fitzgerald quoted over a dozen songs, including "The Peanut Vendor," "Heat Wave," "A-Tisket, A-Tasket," and "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes." This is called using a compression.

A Living Inheritance

The Boswell Sisters' "inventive use of scat singing was a source for Ella Fitzgerald." As a young girl, Fitzgerald often practiced imitating Connee Boswell's scatting for hours. Fitzgerald herself would become a talented scat singer and later claimed to be the "best vocal improviser jazz has ever had," and critics since then have been in almost universal agreement with her.