Asia-Pacific Journal of Advanced Research in Music, Arts, Culture and Literature Vol. 1, No. 1 (2016), pp. 29-34 http://dx.doi.org/10.21742/ajmacl.2016.1.1.05 A Study on the Characteristics of Louis Armstrong s Scat - Centering on albums released from 1943 to 1970- HyunJung Lee 1, Seungyon-Seny Lee 21 1 The Graduate School at Sangmyung University 2 The Graduate School of Culture and Technology at Sangmyung University, R423 1 jazz_hj@naver.com, 2 senylee01@gmail.com Abstract Louis Armstrong s Scath as two aspects. This study aims to make a comparative analysis of correlation between Scat and Adlib and between Scat and Trumpet. The albums released from 1943 to 1970 are classified centering on the songs with Scat and Lyric and the ones with Lyric only without Scat. There are commonalities and differences in genre, tempo, and song form depending on the presence of Scat and Adlib. By performing such study procedures, commonalities and differences are drawn from correlation between Scat and Adlib and between Scat and Trumpet. Keywords: Louis Armstrong, Scat, Adlib, Jazz vocal, Trumpeter 1. Introduction Most of the male jazz vocalists were originally musical performers [1],and the representative vocalist Louis Armstrong was a trumpeter and a creator of Scat and can be said as one of the greatest soloists in the history of jazz. Musical improvisation made solo more salient in-group performance [2], and Scat singing is a vocal technique that is used to sing melody with oral sounds without lyric and popularized the improvisation with voices in the same manner as jazz instrumental players did [3][4]. Armstrong s Scat is compared objectively from two aspects: correlation between Scat and Adlib and interplay between Scat and Trumpet instrumental performance in the albums released from 1943 to 1970. As for album classification (Filter Discography By Albums), 20 albums that are in live version or that has no format or exists in LP are excluded from 41 albums released at All music site during the period when Armstrong worked actively. Among these 21 albums, 9 songs appear twice or more in the albums of other years. So this study concentrates intensively on how the same songs are expressed in the albums released at a distance of time. Among the 9 songs that were overlapped, 2 songs are excluded as instrumental and finally a total of 7 songs are studied as they are ubiquitous 14 times in 9 albums, in each of which it appears twice or more. This study identifies Armstrong s Scat from two directions. First, this study adopts analysis method of Scat and Adlib from two different perspectives and draws results from the songs with Lyric depending on the presence of Scat. Fromthe first perspective, it analyzes how Scat copies and uses the instrumental characteristics of trumpet in songs with Scat and compares Article history: Received (July 07, 2016), Review Result (September 13, 2016), Accepted (October 10, 2016) Print ISSN: 2207-4775, eissn: 2207-2853 AJMACL Copyright c 2016 GV School Publication
A Study on the Characteristics of Louis Armstrong s Scat - Centering on albums released from 1943 to 1970 - the characteristics and roles of Scat and Adlib shown in genre and tempo. From the second perspective, it analyzes the utilization of Adlib written in 14 songs regardless of presence of Scat. Second, the same songs are played in the other albums and the used Scat is compared to find out how it develops with which common characteristics and differences. Finally, the specific characteristics of Scat are analyzed by comparing the correlation between Scat and Trumpet and making a comparative analysis depending on the presence of Scat and Adlib. 2. Song classification depending on the presence of scat For objective comparative analysis, Scat and Adlib are classified into the songs with both Scat and lyric and the ones with Lyric only without Scat. Year and Album, Title, Duration, presence of Scat, and Genre and Tempo are tabulated. Table 1. Classification of songs with both scat and lyric and those with lyric only without scat No. Year / Album Title Duration Scat Genre / Tempo 1 1952 / Satchmo Serenades Someday You'll Be Sorry 3:07 Swing / Medium up 1964 / Hello, Dolly! Someday You'll Be Sorry 3:41 Swing / Medium up 2 1957 / Satchmo: A Musical Autobiography [Track Listing - Disc 3] Lazy River 3:49 Swing / Medium 1960 / Bing &Satchmo Lazy River 3:14 Jazz Slow Swing 3 1959 / Satchmo in Style Blueberry Hill 2:54 Swing / Medium 1964 / Hello, Dolly! Blueberry Hill 3:20 Swing / Medium 4 1952 / Satchmo Serenades A Kiss to Build a Dream On 3:04 Swing / Moderately slow 1964 / Hello, Dolly! A Kiss to Build a Dream On 4:31 Jazz Slow Swing 5 1957 / I've Got the World on a String 1958 / Louis and the Good Book Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen 4:56 Spiritual song / Slow Ragtime(Stride styles) / 3:02 Medium 6 1957 / Louis Under the Stars 1957 / Satchmo: A Musical Autobiography Body and Soul 4:55 Ballad [Track Listing - Disc 3] Body and Soul 4:59 Ballad 7 1968 / What a Wonderful What a Wonderful World 2:16 Jazz Swing Ballad 30 HyunJung Lee and Seungyon-Seny Lee
Asia-Pacific Journal of Advanced Research in Music, Arts, Culture and Literature Vol. 1, No. 1 (2016) pp. 29-34 World 1970 / What a Wonderful World What a Wonderful World Bluesy Rhythm / Tempo Rubato, Slow 2.1. Correlation between scat and trumpet Interplay with trumpeter is represented through Scat analysis in each song. Someday You'll Be Sorry plays melody with similar rhythms in the same location where trumpet is played and appears instrumental by utilizing syllable effect. Lazy River constitutes natural Phrase by using the melody lines that have a meaning in developing motives with the eighth - note patterns and makes us feel that the player is a trumpeter by using the upward and downward motion of melody appropriately. As it plays a bridge role between instrument and vocal and gives a dynamic synergistic effect, it shows climax in the ending part by using voices like trumpet instrument. Blueberry Hill ascends melody up for dynamic rising in ending part, reaches the peak, and finishes with high-pitched tones by using a trumpet. 2.2. Correlation between scat and adlib Someday you'll be sorry, classified as song with Scat is played in medium up swing. Lazy river is played in medium swing and slow swing and Blueberry Hill is played in medium swing. Lazy river plays Scat by giving changes to tempo with double time feel. Genre is largely Swing and Tempo is composed of Medium up and Medium and Rhythm with Double time feel, and the commonality is seen that song is played by using Scat and Adlib in Tempo with Medium or higher. Scat builds up tension by giving change to performance or with dynamic synergistic effect and uses dramatic expression by giving instrumental feel with syllable effect. The characteristics of Adlib are contrasted in the role of Scat and Adlib as it is composed with Phrase for natural flow and played for natural expression of dynamics and natural development between Phrase. 2.3. Utilization of adlib As a result of analysis from the perspective that depends on the presence of Adlib, it is found that there are common forms of musical performance and musical effects depending on genre and tempo. The characteristics of Adlib shown in Someday you'll be sorry, Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen, and Blueberry Hill are first, Phrase are used for natural flow in the beginning of song [5].second, song is uplifted by using smoothly- connected tones before melody variation in high-pitched tone part. Third, it is used for natural development between Phrase. In the above three songs, genre and tempo are Medium up swing and Medium swing, respectively and Tempo Medium in Stride playing style in Rag time, and its played in Tempo with Medium or higher. Lazy river shows a diverse change in rhythms and is an arranged form and Adlib is used with narration and played under Call & Response role. To look at the characteristics of Adlib shown in A Kiss to Build a Dream on, Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen, Body and Soul, and What a Wonderful World, it is restrained, faithful to the original music, plays a brief melody, and concentrates on lyrics. This maximizes lyrics expression by making an appropriate use ofphrase and space or by performing melody variation. To look at the characteristics of songs with lyrics only without Copyright c 2016 GV School Publication 31
A Study on the Characteristics of Louis Armstrong s Scat - Centering on albums released from 1943 to 1970 - scat in the above four songs depending on genre and tempo, genre varied from Jazz slow swing and spiritual song with Tempo Slow to Ballad and arrangement with blued rhythms, but takes a slow tempo commonly. 3. Classification of songs with scat Jazz vocal is Scat singing and plays an improvisatory melody and rhythm and creates equally to instrumental solo by using their voices [6]. Sometimes, distorted voices enhance expressiveness and Scat Syllable understands the structure of rhythm pattern well, has diversity and uniqueness, and expresses rhythmically [7][8]. The characteristics of Scat are classified into six songs with Scat and Lyric from five albums from 1952 to 1964 to see if the same songs are overlapped in the albums of other years. Year and Album, Title, Duration, Genre and Tempo, and Song Form are tabulated. Table 2. Song classification that appeared two or more in other albums among the songs with scat and lyric No. Year / Album Title Duration Genre / Tempo Song Form 1 1952 / Satchmo Serenades 1964 / Hello, Dolly! Someday You'll Be Sorry Someday You'll Be Sorry 3:07 Swing / Medium up Intro-Head(x2)-Interlude- Head out-ending A B A C 3:41 Swing / Medium up Intro-Head(x3)-Head out 2 3 1957 / Satchmo: A [Track Listing - Disc 3] Musical Autobiography Lazy River 3:49 Swing / Medium 1960 / Bing &Satchmo Lazy River 3:14 Jazz Slow Swing 1959 / Satchmo in Style Blueberry Hill 2:54 Swing / Medium 1964 / Hello, Dolly! Blueberry Hill 3:20 Swing / Medium Intro-Head(x2)-Scat-Head out-ending A B Intro-Head-Scat-Head out-ending Intro-Head-Head out- Ending A A B A Intro-Head-Head out- Ending 3.1. Comparative analysis of characteristics of scat The characteristics of Scat are classified into songs that are overlapped in the albums of other years from the songs with both Scat and Lyric, and in case of the songs presented in <Table2>, Scat that is played in other albums is compared. 3.1.1. Comparative analysis of Someday You ll Be Sorry : Album Satchmo Serenades created in 1952 is used to give performing changes to Section moving from A part to Bpart and also used for giving dynamic synergistic effect gradually before reaching the climax. Album Hello, Dolly! created in 1964 sings Head twice. It refrains from using Scat in the first Head and is used for giving performing changes to the part that Section changes. Frequent use of Scat builds up tension and shows synergistic effect for building up the atmosphere of song in the second Head and Head out. 32 HyunJung Lee and Seungyon-Seny Lee
Asia-Pacific Journal of Advanced Research in Music, Arts, Culture and Literature Vol. 1, No. 1 (2016) pp. 29-34 3.1.2. Comparative analysis of Lazy River : Album Satchmo: A Musical Autobiography created in 1957 attempts changes inrhythm and Scat is played in tempo with double time feel. It uses eighth-note patterns and uses melody line that has a meaning in developing motives for constituting natural Phrase. It uses the upward and downward motion of melody appropriately. Album Bing & Satchmo created in 1960 also attempts changes in rhythm and Scat begins with tempo with Double time feel. The use of eighth note and Triple embellishes the melody, suggesting the songs to be played next. The use of Scat in the part moving from Head out to Ending plays a bridge role between instrument and vocal and finishes by giving a dynamic synergistic effect. 3.1.3. Comparative analysis of Blueberry Hill : In Album Satchmo in Style created in 1959, Head out is sung by Armstrong in A A part in the form of Chorus and Call & Response and after Scat, order is changed in B A part. In the part moving from Head out to Ending, dramatic climax occurs, thus giving a dynamic synergistic effect and then melody moves downward repetitively, which narrows the section of motive and gradually increases number and finishes with upward melody after repetition. In Album Hello, Dolly! created in 1964, Head out is used for giving performing changes when Section moves from A Apart to B Apart. For dynamic rise intending, melody gradually moves upward and plays a trumpet role with high-pitched tone when it reaches the climax and then finishes. 3.2. Commonalities in scat The songs contained in other albums have commonalities in Scat depending on song form. Scat is used for attempting performing changes, and in the part moving from Head Out to Ending, the use of Scat builds up tension to build up the atmosphere of song, thus showing synergistic effect. Rhythm and melody that are similar to trumpet are used and musical improvisation is played by using syllable effect and voices like trumpet instrument. 3.3. Differences in scat The characteristics of Scat depend on the flow of time and arrangement. As song form and form of performance are differently organized in the songs contained in the albums of other years, location where Scat is used, its number of use and phrase using rhythm and melody are seen to have been changed in six songs. 4. Conclusion As a result of performing study procedures from two aspects, the genre that is played in Scat and Adlib is largely Swing and its Tempo is Medium or higher. Scat is used in the part of attempting performing changes or in the finishing end and eighth note patterns are largely used. It plays a bridge role between instrument and vocal and plays like a trumpet by using voices and syllable. Adlib is played for constituting Phrase for natural flow and for natural expression of dynamics and natural development between Phrase and used for Call & Response role. From this study, it was suggested that if attempting to arrange by giving changes to genre and tempo variously and expressing natural flow of song and its dynamic expression by making good use of the location and role where Scat and Adlib can be used depending on song form based on the basic knowledge of Scat and Adlib, player s own Copyright c 2016 GV School Publication 33
A Study on the Characteristics of Louis Armstrong s Scat - Centering on albums released from 1943 to 1970 - uniqueness could be developed. This study has limitations in that the number of songs is limited in the studying process. Based on the analysis results from this study, further studies need to collect plenty of songs, classify them, compare the characteristics of Scat, identify the changes depending on the general characteristics of Scatand the flow of time, and provide developmental directions. Acknowledgements This research was supported by a 2016 Research Grant from Sangmyung University. References [1] J. E. Berendt, J.H. Han, Das Jazzbuch, Jaeum&Moeum, Seoul, pp.671-680, (2012). [2] G.Y.Choi, Jazz, Sallimbooks, Seoul, pp.14-15, (2015). [3] M. Gridley, Translation S.B. Sin, Jazz Styles,History and Analysis, Samhomusic, Seoul, pp.112-115, (2002). [4] G. Giddins, S. DeVeaux, Translation D.H. Hwang, JAZZ, Kachi, Seoul, pp.170-197, (2014). [5] R. Smallwood, Gospel and Blues Improvisation, Music Educators Journal, Vol. 66, No. 5, pp. 100-104,(1980). [6] J. Bower and H. Shoemark, Music Therapy to Promote Interpersonal Interactions in Early PaediatricNeurorehabilitation, Australian Journal of Music Therapy, Vol. 20, pp. 59-75, (2009). [7] C.K. Lee and S.S. Lee, Using Number of Cases in Rhythmic Educational Contents, The Korea Contents Society, Vol. 15, No. 8, pp. 187,(2015). [8] P.M. Ward-Steinman, Vocal Improvisation and Creative Thinking by Australian and American University Jazz Singers A Factor Analytic Study, Journal of Research in Music Education, Vol. 56, pp. 5-17,(2008). Authors Hyun Jung Lee Professor, Sangmyung University Master of Music at Sangmyung University Ph.D.Program at Sangmyung University Seungyon Seny Lee Professor, Sangmyung University Doctor of Computer Music Composition, Stanford University Former Professor, Kaist 34 HyunJung Lee and Seungyon-Seny Lee