I have chosen to take a look into the piece “Heebie Jeebies” sung by Louis Armstrong. The piece was first recorded in 1926 and it is generally the first piece recorded into the scat-technique. Other performers that played this piece were Chick Webb after an arrangement by Benny Carter and the Boswell Sister that performed the tune on radio.
Jazz was a music genre that has emerged in America in the beginning of the twenty century and was developed from a confluence of African and European music tradition in African American communities in the Southern United States of America. The style has gathered traceable characteristics from jazz West African pedigree like improvisation, the swung note of the ragtime, blue notes, polyrhythms, call-and-response and syncopation. New England’s religious hymns from 19th and 20th century and popular music from European traditions were also incorporated into the early development of jazz culture.
During its development, jazz style spawned a wide variety of subgenre. Dating from early 1910 we had New Orland Dixie style, from 1930s to 1940s we had big band-style swing, from the middle of 1940s beep-bop appeared, from 1950s to 1960s a variety of Latin-jazz fusion like the Afro-Cuban or Brazilian jazz, for the 1970s jazz-rock fusion was a new presence and later development was a form of acid jazz.
This paper will focus on the first middle of the twenty century in particular in one of the most talented jazz musician and trumpet player of that time, known by the name Louis Armstrong. He played a key in role in the development of this new style of music thru his inventiveness and improvisational technique being a big influence for the next generations of musicians. In addition to being an incredible trumpet player, Louis Armstrong has also known for his distinctive gravelly singing voice and was one of the first performers of the cat-style singing.
“Heebie Jeebies” was one of the first pieces that introduced the scat technique of singing in which the singer replaced the actual lyrics with nonsense syllables which often imitated sounds made by the instruments. Louis Armstrong wasn’t the person that invented this singing technique but he was one of the persons that make it very popular. The piece was first recoded in 1926 on Okeh Records by Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five and at the end the piece included a famous chorus were we can hear Louis Armstrong singing in the scat technique. Listening to the piece you can hear the singer making a free improvisation, here being the first time when this technique was used.
In conclusion, the piece “Heebie Jeebies” brought to the jazz style history a unique and new singing technique that later became very popular thru all jazz singers. The piece has shifted the performance from a jazz form ensemble to a soloist art form and you can feel that at the beginning where Armstrong’s commanding and strong opening solo sets the tone for the entire piece. The scat technique used in this piece leave us a hugely historical important record but at the same time a fun and joyous masterpiece.
Cited works:
Daniels, P. “Louis Armstrong: A Masterful Trumpet Player” About Education. Web. 3 December 2014. Available at http://history1900s.about.com/od/people/a/Louis-Armstrong.htm
“Jazz Music” Audials. Web. 3 December 2014. Available at http://audials.com/en/genres/jazz_music.html
“Louis Armstrong: The Beginning and End of Music in America.” Jazz Script. Web. 3 December 2014. Available at http://www.jazzscript.co.uk/extra/art.armstrong.htm
