Two approaches to jazz singing

Jazz singers generally fall into one of two camps: those for whom the song comes first, and those for whom the voice comes first. Most singers fall into the second category. Their song interpretations are free and creative, taking advantage of whatever special vocal talents they have. They pull out all the stops. In essence, their voice gets front billing, not the song. The first camp pays more attention to the intention of the songwriter. The interpretation is determined by the song, not by their special skills. Thus scat singing belongs in the second camp, not the first, unless the songwriter specifically wrote it with scat singing.

Song first

The King and Queen of the song-first school are Frank Sinatra and Billie Holiday. You never hear either scat sing. The King and Queen of the voice-first school are Mel Torme and Ella Fitzgerald. Vocal histrionics are usually central to their interpretations of songs.

I prefer the former, as you might have guessed. Respect for the songwriter and all that. But the other camp has many more followers, in both singers and audience, than the former.

Voice first

I cringe whenever a singer in the voice-first camp sings the Star Spangled Banner before an event. I cringe! Give me the U. S. Navy Chorus any time, singing the song in a straight forward manner.