Various Artists - Saga Jazz: Scat Singing (The Art of Vocal Jazz) (2003)

Even if, contrary to legend, he wasn’t the inventor of scat, it was indeed Louis Armstrong who transformed this highly rhythmical way of vocalising in onomatopoeia into a major jazz vocal art-form. What’s a scat stuntman if not a mouth-virtuoso, a “vocalizer” spitting swing syllables? It’s a whole tradition, and trumpeters are often scat aces. If you need convincing, just listen to the example set by Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie and Roy Eldridge in this gleeful anthology. As for the ladies, nobody could rival Ella Fitzgerald in this exercise of playing with onomatopoeia while spontaneously improvising: Oh, Lady Be Good undeniably proves it.

Tracklist:
1-1. Louis Armstrong - Hotter Than That (03:05)
1-2. Mckinney'S Cotton Pickers - Four or Five Times (02:52)
1-3. Jabbo Smith - Decatur Street Tutti (02:46)
1-4. Mckinney'S Cotton Pickers - Beedle Um Bum (03:21)
1-5. Ethel Waters - I Got Rhythm (03:09)
1-6. Lennie Hayton - Some of These Days (02:36)
1-7. Louis Armstrong - Sweet Sue Just You (02:46)
1-8. Cab Calloway And His Cotton Club Orchestra - Zaz Zuh Zaz (03:26)
1-9. The Mills Brothers - I'Ve Found a New Baby (02:44)
1-10. Svend Asmussen - Ring Dem Bells (03:10)
1-11. Gene Krupa & His Orchestra - What'S This (02:46)
1-12. Billy Eckstine - I Love The Rhythm In a Riff (02:55)
1-13. Ella Fitzgerald - Flying Home (02:30)
1-14. Leo Watson - Sonny Boy (03:06)
1-15. Ella Fitzgerald - Budella (04:19)
1-16. Ella Fitzgerald - Oh Lady Be Good (03:17)
1-17. Mel Torme - Honeysuckle Rose (02:50)
1-18. Dizzy Gillespie & His Orchestra - Oop Pop A Da (03:15)
1-19. Charlie Barnet & Son Orchestre - Rockin' In Rhythm (02:29)
1-20. Ella Fitzgerald - How High The Moon (03:17)
1-21. Dave Lambert - Cherokee Part I & Ii (09:31)
1-22. Dizzy Gillespie & His Orchestra - Jump Did Le Ba (02:30)