April 30 is INTERNATIONAL JAZZ DAY. Mistermuse could write a book about jazz, but many books have already been authored by jazz writers more authoritative than he, so mistermuse will settle for doing a post — and on this post, he has a chick who can sing a lick here, scat a lick there, wing a lick everywhere:
You may think that’s hotter than a chicken wing or a pig on a spit — but here’s a cat who can scat too, and when he blows his bugle, he’s even….
Is your computer smoking yet? We don’t want to alarm the Firehouse brigade, so before your pc bursts into a
….let’s do one number more and stop at four, because….
Thanks for the link. Haven’t heard that version, but I know the song — it was recorded by the great Bessie Smith in 1928. I love the vocal on your clip — who is the vocalist?
Thank you, Don. Actually, I did know about the Disney connection. I own a few of their record albums, and the notes on one of them say that band founder trombonist Ward Kimball and tin whistle player Walt Kelly (of Pogo fame) first met at Disney Studios in 1934. They’re not my fav Dixieland band, but I still enjoy listening to them.
Who says that’s a plenty? I wouldn’t my have minded several more. And a Happy International Jazz Day to you, mistermuse. Sure glad I got to this today; otherwise it wouldn’t have had the same cachet.
And that chick Ella (my feathers were a little ruffled by your so naming her til the song began): anyone who can elevate a children’s nursery rhyme to art…well, she’s one cool scat.
Such delight!
it was a feather in my cap, not only to have found the Ella clip, but the clip which is my favorite of the four: HOTTER THAN THAT. The “cat who can scat” in that recording is of course Louis Armstrong, and I’ve never heard him scat better than he does starting one minute and twenty seconds into the clip. It doesn’t get any hotter than that!
At a high school reunion years ago, I was talking with the guy who was my senior prom date. He insisted that after the dance, we went into New York and saw Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald. I was appalled at myself: how could I have NO recollection of such a significant event? Just months ago, I found an old scrapbook I’d made (we did that in those days), and I’d written how awful my date was and noted the performers we’d seen: much lesser lights than those two musical giants.
I shall revisit your Satch video to see if I’ll be further tickled by his scats.
For decades, I’ve owned well over a dozen Louis LPs, at least one of which includes HOTTER THAN THAT….and I’M appalled at myself that I didn’t recollect how great his scatting was on that 1920s recording (until I found the video). Of course, he was at the peak of his creative power (both playing and scatting) back then, and that was only one of many unbelievable performances, so I suppose I should forgive myself for forgetting one of them.
It would have been wonderful to have had Ella as a grandmother entertaining us with that version. I wonder what she could do with the other standard nursery rhymes.
Wonder no more, Elizabeth. As a matter of fact, her first big hit record was a song she co-wrote in 1938 based on the nursery rhyme A-TISKET A-TASKET. Here, she sings it in a clip from the 1942 Abbot & Costello film RIDE ‘EM COWBOY:
Any scene with Barbara Stanwyck is a pleasure to watch — though I must say (when it comes to screwball comedies) that I liked THE LADY EVE (with her and Henry Fonda) better than BALL OF FIRE.
this is amazing~ thank you for sharing.
If you get a chance, I’d really appreciate if you can check out my music/ art blog.
It would mean a lot! https://thehighsnlows.com
Thanks for the comment. I read your latest (Jazz Festivals) post, but currently have too much on my plate to read more. At this point, I can only say I liked what I saw and will try to check out a few more of your posts when I have time.
Today marks the birthday (4/25/1917) of one of my all-time favorite female jazz vocalists, EllaFitzgerald. Nearly forty years ago, I had the pleasure of seeing/hearing The First Lady of Song (as she was fittingly known) when she was appearing in San Francisco at a time I happened to be there. Her performance that night confirmed what I’d dug from decades of collecting her records and listening to her sing and interpret lyrics as only she could.
Ella, my musical muse and soulmate in song, for all the ‘spiritual’ pleasure you brought (and continue to bring) me and countless other fans over the years, this post is….
Like the Lady said at the start, the only thing better than singing is more singing (especially when It’s Wonderful singing):
I first got hooked on (and continue to love) Ella’s feel for a song as the ‘girl’ vocalist with Chick Webb’s Band in the mid-to-late 1930s. Even before reaching stardom, there was little doubt she meant it when she expressed….
….and then she became the band’s BIG attraction when her rendition of A-TISKET, A TASKET became a #1 hit in 1938. Later in her career, Ella’s vocals evolved into more of a scat-singing style, but I didn’t scat from evolving with her and echoing….
Wow, that takes me back… ( not me personally, it was way before my time ) my parents used to play her records and dance in the living room. Sweet memories.
You’re more than welcome, Marietta. Since April 29 is Duke Ellington’s birthday, here’s an additional treat: Ella at her scat-singing best with Duke (at the piano) and his orchestra:
As a vocalist, I am continually fascinated with how she mastered the big band long lyric line with her own style and moved into jazz, imprinting her own style again. It’s very cerebral and done with such ease.
Right on! — though I don’t think Ella “moved into jazz.” She was a jazz vocalist from the start (with Chick Webb’s Big Band in the 1930s), after which she moved from Swing-era jazz into the style for which she is best-remembered today. I love her way with a song at all points of her career, but I am perhaps more into her swing style than you because I have been collecting her records for over 60 years, including dozens of her old 78s with Chick Webb’s Band, which she even led for two years after his death in 1939.
Wait — don’t scat! Stay where you are and let scat come to you — scat singing, that is — and who better to lay the scat on you than two of the best: Mel Tormé, whose birthday (9/13/25) we celebrate this month, and the First Lady of Scat, Ella Fitzgerald:
Man, if that didn’t knock your socks off, you’d better put your shoes on and scat back to Squaresville, because you’re just not with it! To say scat singing is little more than vocal jazz improvisation with nonsense words is like saying The Donald is just improvising when he lets loose with nonsense tweets (to use a reverse perverse metaphor).
So, who was the cat who ‘invented’ scat? There seems to be no definitive answer, but some say it began 2/26/26 when Louis Armstrong supposedly forgot the words to this song and began improvising a little more than halfway through the recording:
Let’s wrap it up with this recent scat-iteration (which, I kid you not, ends with tweets):
Indeed! I own her Irving Berlin, George and Ira Gershwin, Cole Porter, and Rodgers and Hart Songbook albums (not to mention dozens of her old 78s dating back to the 1930s).
How exciting that Satchmo recorded one of your songs! If you don’t mind telling me, what’s the title of the song? I’d like to try to find it online and give it a listen.
calmkate 2:25 am on April 30, 2020 Permalink |
ah you managed to warm my heart on a cold wet winters day!
Thanks Mr M … everyday should be jazz day 😎
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mistermuse 8:38 am on April 30, 2020 Permalink |
An apple a day may keep the doctor away
But jazz every day keeps the blues at bay.
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calmkate 7:32 pm on April 30, 2020 Permalink
lol could be why I seldom feel blue!
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blindzanygirl 3:37 am on April 30, 2020 Permalink |
Wonderful
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mistermuse 8:46 am on April 30, 2020 Permalink |
You ain’t so bad yourself, bzg! 😉
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blindzanygirl 9:03 am on April 30, 2020 Permalink
Thanks 😀 i love your music
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masercot 12:05 pm on April 30, 2020 Permalink |
I’m curious. Have you heard this band: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPAgGGf28o0&list=PLvJVkchY7jrZYlc8DXHJDNJLf_m8si3vj
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mistermuse 2:59 pm on April 30, 2020 Permalink |
Thanks for the link. Haven’t heard that version, but I know the song — it was recorded by the great Bessie Smith in 1928. I love the vocal on your clip — who is the vocalist?
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masercot 3:30 pm on April 30, 2020 Permalink
Jessy Carolina.
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Don Ostertag 12:22 pm on April 30, 2020 Permalink |
gives me an excuse to play my jazz collection, as if I needed an excuse. Bit of trivia – Firehouse 5 had a day job. The were animators for Disney.
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mistermuse 3:18 pm on April 30, 2020 Permalink |
Thank you, Don. Actually, I did know about the Disney connection. I own a few of their record albums, and the notes on one of them say that band founder trombonist Ward Kimball and tin whistle player Walt Kelly (of Pogo fame) first met at Disney Studios in 1934. They’re not my fav Dixieland band, but I still enjoy listening to them.
LikeLiked by 1 person
annieasksyou 7:32 pm on April 30, 2020 Permalink |
Who says that’s a plenty? I wouldn’t my have minded several more. And a Happy International Jazz Day to you, mistermuse. Sure glad I got to this today; otherwise it wouldn’t have had the same cachet.
And that chick Ella (my feathers were a little ruffled by your so naming her til the song began): anyone who can elevate a children’s nursery rhyme to art…well, she’s one cool scat.
Such delight!
LikeLiked by 1 person
mistermuse 10:51 pm on April 30, 2020 Permalink |
it was a feather in my cap, not only to have found the Ella clip, but the clip which is my favorite of the four: HOTTER THAN THAT. The “cat who can scat” in that recording is of course Louis Armstrong, and I’ve never heard him scat better than he does starting one minute and twenty seconds into the clip. It doesn’t get any hotter than that!
LikeLiked by 1 person
annieasksyou 8:15 am on May 1, 2020 Permalink
At a high school reunion years ago, I was talking with the guy who was my senior prom date. He insisted that after the dance, we went into New York and saw Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald. I was appalled at myself: how could I have NO recollection of such a significant event? Just months ago, I found an old scrapbook I’d made (we did that in those days), and I’d written how awful my date was and noted the performers we’d seen: much lesser lights than those two musical giants.
I shall revisit your Satch video to see if I’ll be further tickled by his scats.
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mistermuse 8:54 am on May 1, 2020 Permalink
Thanks for that interesting remembrance.
For decades, I’ve owned well over a dozen Louis LPs, at least one of which includes HOTTER THAN THAT….and I’M appalled at myself that I didn’t recollect how great his scatting was on that 1920s recording (until I found the video). Of course, he was at the peak of his creative power (both playing and scatting) back then, and that was only one of many unbelievable performances, so I suppose I should forgive myself for forgetting one of them.
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annieasksyou 9:01 am on May 1, 2020 Permalink |
Right—I think we both have to stop being appalled at ourselves…
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Elizabeth 6:32 pm on May 1, 2020 Permalink |
It would have been wonderful to have had Ella as a grandmother entertaining us with that version. I wonder what she could do with the other standard nursery rhymes.
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mistermuse 12:11 am on May 2, 2020 Permalink |
Wonder no more, Elizabeth. As a matter of fact, her first big hit record was a song she co-wrote in 1938 based on the nursery rhyme A-TISKET A-TASKET. Here, she sings it in a clip from the 1942 Abbot & Costello film RIDE ‘EM COWBOY:
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Elizabeth 4:41 pm on May 2, 2020 Permalink
Thanks.
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moorezart 9:19 pm on May 1, 2020 Permalink |
Reblogged this on From 1 Blogger 2 Another.
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mistermuse 12:14 am on May 2, 2020 Permalink |
Moorezart for more jazz, and more jazz for moorezart. I dig it!
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Silver Screenings 10:14 pm on May 4, 2020 Permalink |
Thanks for including that great scene from Ball of Fire! 🙂
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mistermuse 11:28 pm on May 4, 2020 Permalink |
Any scene with Barbara Stanwyck is a pleasure to watch — though I must say (when it comes to screwball comedies) that I liked THE LADY EVE (with her and Henry Fonda) better than BALL OF FIRE.
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Silver Screenings 8:39 am on May 5, 2020 Permalink
Agreed. I prefer The Lady Eve, too. Stanwyck is perfectly cast in that film – I can’t imagine anyone else in that role.
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America On Coffee 8:49 pm on May 18, 2020 Permalink |
I love jazz covers today which are going in many directions and genre incorporations. I wonder too,if Scat is the grandparent of rap…🤔
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lorraineanne 11:10 am on May 20, 2020 Permalink |
this is amazing~ thank you for sharing.
If you get a chance, I’d really appreciate if you can check out my music/ art blog.
It would mean a lot!
https://thehighsnlows.com
lo
LikeLiked by 1 person
mistermuse 12:47 pm on May 20, 2020 Permalink |
Thanks for the comment. I read your latest (Jazz Festivals) post, but currently have too much on my plate to read more. At this point, I can only say I liked what I saw and will try to check out a few more of your posts when I have time.
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