the.com/scat
the only language where wordless nonsense becomes the most precise music alive
means To improvise wordless, syllable-based singing in jazz, using nonsense sounds instead of lyrics; also, separately, animal droppings, or a sharp command to go away.
from The jazz sense is likely imitative — onomatopoeia for the very sounds a singer scats, the 'skat-doo-bee' of an improvising voice, popularized in early 20th-century jazz (Louis Armstrong's recordings are the famous, if disputed, origin point). The 'go away!' scat is older, an 18th-century expression possibly clipped from 'scatter' or simply a hissing shoo-sound aimed at cats. The droppings sense comes from a different root entirely — Greek 'skat-,' meaning dung, the same source that gives us 'scatology.' Three unrelated 'scats' that happen to share a spelling.
- origin
- Louis Armstrong reportedly dropped his lyric sheet and improvised
- double life
- also the scientific term for animal droppings
- trackers use it
- wildlife biologists identify species by analyzing scat
- vocal jazz
- Ella Fitzgerald scatted entire solos rivaling horn players
charlie parker — jazz saxophonist who pioneered scat singing in the 1940s with iconic recordings like 'ornithology'
ella fitzgerald — jazz vocalist famous for her scat solos, especially in 'how high the moon' recorded live in 1947
louis armstrong — trumpeter and singer who popularized scat with 'west end blues' and countless live performances from the 1920s onward