Lyrics to jazz instrumentals

[Montunoman 2]

I've been enjoying this vocal  version of Anthropology. Funny, as a young man I used to find this sort of thing sort of corny, but for better or worse I've changed! I'd like to hear your thoughts on lyrics added to bebop tunes and other classic jazz instrumentals, and if you dig that sort of thing, please share some YouTube links of some jazz vocalist demonstrating this. 

 

 

 

[CyberGene]

Even when I used to be obsessed by jazz, I couldn't stand scat singing.

[ElmerJFudd]

Lyrics help with learning a melody and rhythm quick though!  

[Montunoman 2]

5 minutes ago, CyberGene said:

Even when I used to be obsessed by jazz, I couldn't stand scat singing.

 

3 minutes ago, ElmerJFudd said:

Lyrics help with learning a melody and rhythm quick though!  

Cyber Gene, I was the same way but even more so with lyrics set Bebop and other jazz instrumentals. I don't know how I changed, but now I love vocal jazz, even scat singing! 

I think it can help, as Elmer says, with internalizing jazz rhythm and melody.

[bill5]

Just a side note that vocalese (as above) is not scat singing. But for me whether I like either or not all depends on the specifics. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. I could listen to Ella all day. 

[CyberGene]

5 minutes ago, bill5 said:

Just a side note that vocalese (as above) is not scat singing.

There is also scat singing in that video around the 1 minute mark. 

[Montunoman 2]

Here's another example with no scat singing, just lyrics set to Claire Fisher's "Morning" . Incidentally, the rendition in the video below was a big hit in the Spanish speaking world. I don't think Clarie Fisher's made to the top 40? 

 

 

[Montunoman 2]

Apparently there's is some sort of debate as to if Horace Silver wrote lyrics to "Song For My Father" 

 

 

 

[Docbop]

2 hours ago, CyberGene said:

Even when I used to be obsessed by jazz, I couldn't stand scat singing.

 

 

What I like I assume is a more modern trend (I assume)  is using Jazz singers like they were a horn singing parts with other horns.   I've seen Steve Coleman,  Kamasi Washington,  Thana Alexa on her own and with her husband Antonio Sanchez group.   Adds a nice color to the parts. 

 

[Montunoman 2]

35 minutes ago, Docbop said:

 

 

What I like I assume is a more modern trend (I assume)  is using Jazz singers like they were a horn singing parts with other horns.   I've seen Steve Coleman,  Kamasi Washington,  Thana Alexa on her own and with her husband Antonio Sanchez group.   Adds a nice color to the parts. 

 

Yeah, I dig that sound too. I think of 90's Pat Matheny 

 

 

However I am referring to instrumental jazz music that has lyrics added later- not scat or vocalese . Probably many here find it  parody like, or cheesy? A niche market for sure. Probably appreciated by a few  other jazz nerds, like me! 

However, I'm talking more about lyrics set to jazz tunes- not scat singing. I can see why many might consider this sort of a parody or sorts, or cheesy. Definitely a nitch market

 

 

[jazzpiano88]

This was one of the most tasteful vocal renditions IMO.    Instrumentalists do it justice.    Vocal arrangement captures the Intent and nail the horn arrangment, esp the Zawinul solo at the end.  

 

I believe Jay Graydon and Michael Omartian arranged it, with Boddicker, Omar, on  synth/piano.     Powerhouse nailed it. (I think Porcoro and Luke were also involved). 

 

 

[Brad Kaenel]

Manhattan Transfer -- LOTS of great examples!

 

(JazzPiano88 beat me to "Birdland", but here's more...)

 

 

[Brad Kaenel]

 

[bill5]

4 hours ago, CyberGene said:

There is also scat singing in that video around the 1 minute mark. 

My bad; I didn't listen the whole way through. 

[Leroy C]

 

[jazzpiano88]

1 hour ago, Leroy C said:

 

 

He's great!!  Thanks!!

[Leroy C]

13 minutes ago, JazzPiano88 said:

 

He's great!!  Thanks!!

You betcha.  I wasn't aware of that version until I happened to hear a local group do it.  I think it's a pretty neat take on an otherwise very abstract piece.

[Paul Harrison]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pP9-iqsSyHo&list=PLcvZ5KmI-bv5w0Vt4UHLCH91whMTGEiaZ

[niacin]

 

 

 

 

 

[niacin]

 

[stoken6]

Apologies for taking this into an adjacent lane in order to repost this KC favo(u)rite.

 

Dave Tull hasn't retrofitted lyrics - he wrote an original song. However, he went one further and wrote words to his own (vocal) "solo".

 

Cheers, Mike.

[Reezekeys]

We've come this far in the thread without a mention of Lambert, Hendricks & Ross? REALLY?!

 

Here's a taste -

 

 

[time4jazz]

Al Jarreau has put lyrics to some Jazz tunes. Spain and Take Five, for example….

 

 

 

[Synthaholic]

20 hours ago, JazzPiano88 said:

This was one of the most tasteful vocal renditions IMO.    Instrumentalists do it justice.    Vocal arrangement captures the Intent and nail the horn arrangment, esp the Zawinul solo at the end.  

 

I believe Jay Graydon and Michael Omartian arranged it, with Boddicker, Omar, on  synth/piano.     Powerhouse nailed it. (I think Porcoro and Luke were also involved). 

 

 

 

I came into this thread intending to post this. Manhattan Transfer did a great job putting lyrics to instrumentals. I never felt like it was forced.

[Paul Harrison]

18 hours ago, time4jazz said:

Al Jarreau has put lyrics to some Jazz tunes. Spain and Take Five, for example….

 

"Take Five" was written by saxophonist Paul Desmond when he was with the Dave Brubeck Quartet, and first appeared on their 1959 album "Time Out". The lyrics that Al Jarreau sings to this tune were written by Dave Brubeck's wife, Iola, and were first recorded by Carmen McRae in 1962.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNWsr6N72yQ

[Canoehead]

😀

[Montunoman 2]

Thanks for great song recommendations, I checked them all out and throughly enjoyed them all. Funny,  I kind of forgot about the Manhattan Transfer. As a  little kid in the 70s, I remember, my parents used to play those albums and I enjoyed them. It was kind of a guilty pleasure for me at the time, because I thought my friends would think I was uncool for not listening to my KISS  albums!

 

Anyways, apparently the group just released their last album and is doing a farewell tour.  What a great group!

 

https://www.dailynews.com/2022/10/28/manhattan-transfer-discuss-farewell-tour-after-five-decades-of-four-part-harmonies/#:~:text=Massé left in 1979 after,the end of the road.

[o0Ampy0o]

On 7/22/2023 at 9:35 AM, Montunoman 2 said:

I've been enjoying this vocal version of Anthropology. Funny, as a young man I used to find this sort of thing sort of corny, but for better or worse I've changed! I'd like to hear your thoughts on lyrics added to bebop tunes and other classic jazz instrumentals, and if you dig that sort of thing, please share some YouTube links of some jazz vocalist demonstrating this.

 

I hope you do not mind that I make a comment outside the jazz genre.

 

Generally, if a song works as an instrumental and I have never heard it as a vocal piece it does not sound as good to me when I hear it with vocals/ lyrics no matter how good the vocals are. Somehow it is weaker. On Paul McCartney's solo debut the song Junk is presented with vocals and as an instrumental. As much as I loved Paul's voice throughout the Beatles and early solo periods the instrumental version is superior IMO. It helps that the guitar is recorded differently for the instrumental. Among other differences the vocal version is softer which hurts it compared with the instrumental version. Somehow the engineering rendered the instrumental more melodic. Interesting to me is that Paul was the melodic Beatle. It made him such an effective bass player.

 

The reverse has been true as well. If I hear an instrumental of a song I am familiar with which has vocals it is not that far from muzak. That sort of thing has been cited as key to the death of Smooth Jazz. One thing I detest is when an instrument replicates the vocals. This applies to any lead/solo in a vocal piece as well as an instrumental version of a vocal piece.

 

A couple exceptions, Tommy Emmanuel doing Somewhere Over The Rainbow and Mike Dawes doing Slow Dancing In A Burning Room are both solo acoustic guitar instrumentals good in their own right. Worth noting, Mike Dawes is essentially doing a John Mayer solo lead for most of the instrumental which is different than how Emmanuel approaches SOTR. Also worth noting, SOTR is a vocal showcase while SDIABR features both vocals and an extended solo lead guitar and is recognized for both.

 

It is just a coincidence that I am mentioning songs featuring acoustic guitar.

 

EDIT: I thought of a non-acoustic guitar exception, during the first Journey tour featuring Steve Perry Neal Schon would do an amazing bluesy instrumental of Leon Russell's A Song For You. Unfortunately when he finally released a version of it on a CD it was when he was venturing off into a sort of ambient style of anthem instrumental solo period and it really missed the mark.

[Chris Link]

In addition to LH&R and Manhattan Transfer, one of my favorite singers, Lorraine Feather, did an album of Fats Waller tunes with lyrics she added. It is a real gem.

 

She is an unbelievably clever lyricist as well as a terrific singer. And it has some excellent stride piano from Dick Hyman and Mike Lang.

 

https://lorrainefeather.com/new-york-city-drag/

 

 

[stoken6]

On 7/29/2023 at 3:22 AM, o0Ampy0o said:

One thing I detest is when an instrument replicates the vocals.

This. Particularly when the instrument plays exactly the same notes/rhythms as were originally sung. It sounds very stilted and unnatural. 

 

I have no problem with an instrument taking on a melody and playing it idiomatically for that instrument. But vocal and instrumental idioms are different.

 

Cheers, Mike.