Her renditions of these jazz classics, from the work of Irving Berlin and George and Ira Gershwin to Duke Ellington, have become renowned standards in and of themselves. She navigated dance floor ditties and mournful ballads with ease, collaborated with legendary bandleaders like Benny Goodman and Count Basie, and belted and crooned her way through the great American Songbook. She joined the ranks of Chick Webb’s orchestra as its velvet voice within a year of her triumphant Amateur Night debut.īy 1938, Ella had recorded a number of singles, but struck gold with her elevated take on a popular nursery rhyme, “A Tisket A Tasket.” Hers was a voice that immediately put the listener at ease – amber, warm, and with a strong vibrato that lent itself beautifully to countless styles. Soon, Ella was singing with bands as they provided the soundtrack for smoke-filled dance halls, like Harlem’s Savoy Ballroom, and swinging, sultry jazz nights across town. She sang the songs “Judy” and “The Object of My Affection” instead, and won the evening’s top prize. She had planned on dancing in hopes of securing her shot at fame, but was intimidated by a tap-dancing act who won the crowd over with their fancy footwork before her turn. Period jazz costumes (1930s and '40s) could add a lot, too.In the fall of 1934, Ella Fitzgerald – then a homeless, 17-year-old girl in Harlem – took the stage at the Apollo Theater’s very first Amateur Night. This might even be cute if performed in a show choir style - with movement (simple!) and costumes. If you choose to use the song in performance (for this or any occasion), the introduction and interludes could be used to have performers switch positions in preparation for the partnering. (Basie was famous for his simple, single line solos.) See if your students can pick out the lines he played.Īs you've probably figured out, "I Like To Sing (Scat)" would be a great addition to your Music In Our Schools Month repertoire. The first time through the tune (after the intro), Paul treated us to a wee bit of Basie-like piano improvisation. We used drums, acoustic bass, piano, arch top guitar, four trumpets, four trombones, two horns, and four saxes to get that lovely, rich jazz ensemble blend. Truly the best way to use the song is with the recording. Paul has outdone himself again with this chart, and we are thrilled. The real beauty of this song, as with all of our big band productions, is the instrumental arrangement and recording. One cute note: At the end of the song, you will notice that the easy part scats and the scat part sings an easy note. Just play the instrumental tracks and let them go! You don't even have to use the partner song format or any of the melodies or lyrics. This would be great for students working with jazz and improvisation, even on instruments. Taking turns might be fun and less cacophonous. They can create them ahead of time, even altering the melody, if they wish. Our singers did a very nice job, especially with the scatting.Īs mentioned, you can let your students invent their own scat syllables. Feel free to use these versions as teaching tools. Fortunately, since it is a partner song, the two versions are clearly sung individually on the Performance/Accompaniment recording before they are combined. Part 2 is more difficult and we recommend using older or more accomplished singers for this part. It can be sung by students of almost any age. However, just to help them get used to the idea of scatting and using fun and silly words and syllables, we have plugged in our own, um. Of course, ordinarily scat singing is improvised, and you can certainly let your students do this. Songs we have previously published using scat (nonsense) syllables have been popular as well. To keep it interesting, and to allow teachers to also involve older students, we decided to make it a partner song that incorporates scat singing. It turned out to be very popular, so we thought it would be a good idea to offer a similar style in a non-seasonal tune that students could sing year-round. Last year we published a big band arrangement of the tune "Jingle Bells" ("Jingle Jive") that combined medium tempo swing, double time swing, and an easily singable vocal line.
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