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	'''Vocal jazz''' or '''jazz singing''' is an instrumental approach to the voice, where the singer can match the instruments in their stylistic approach to the lyrics, improvised or otherwise, or through ]; that is, the use of non-morphemic syllables to imitate the sound of instruments.		'''Vocal jazz''' or '''jazz singing''' is an instrumental approach to the voice.

	==The origins of jazz singing to 1950==
	The roots of ] were very much vocal, with ]s and ceremonial chants, but while the ] maintained a strong vocal tradition, with singers such as ] and ] heavily influencing the progress of American popular music in general, early jazz bands only featured vocalists periodically, albeit those with a more "bluesy" tone of voice; one of the first "jazz" recordings, the 1917 ] recordings featured ] as vocalist.

	It was ] who established singing as a distinct art form in jazz, realising that a singer could improvise in the same manner as an instrumentalist, and along with American vocalist ] they established ] as a central pillar of the jazz vocal art.

	A frequently repeated legend alleges that ] invented scat singing when he dropped the lyric sheet while singing on his 1926 recording of "]". Jazz musicians ], ] and ] all recorded examples of scat earlier than Armstrong. However, the record "Heebie Jeebies" in 1926 by Armstrong and "]" in 1927 by ] and ] subsequently introduced scat singing to a wider audience and did much to popularize the style. Armstrong was an innovative singer who while experimenting with all kinds of sound, improvised with his voice as he did on his instrument. In one famous example, Armstrong scatted a passage on "I'm A Ding Dong Daddy From Dumas" – he sings "I've done forgot the words!" in the middle of recording before taking off in scat.

	] entered into the world of jazz singing in the early 1930s, explaining: ''I don't feel like I'm singing, I feel like I'm playing the horn.'' Holiday had a comparatively limited vocal range of just over an ], and compensated for this shortcoming with nuanced phrasing and emotional immediacy, qualities admired by a young ].

	With the end of ], a more "danceable" form of jazz music arose, giving birth to the ], and with it big bands such as those led by ], ], ], ], ], ], ] and ]. Many notable post war jazz singers sang with these bands in the infancy of their careers.

	With the end of the Swing era, the touring ] of the past decade were no longer a viable option, and the demise of the typical big band singer was further complicated by the advent of ] as a creative force in jazz.

	The rise of bebop saw new jazz singers such as ] rise to fame, furthering the notion of "free voice" - giving instrumental qualities to the voice through ]s, registers and ].

	==1950s and 1960s==

	The birth of ] as a distinct genre, and a new generation of teenagers having different tastes from their previous adult audience, caused a significant decline in the popularity of jazz.

	Around the same time, the ] (LP) was invented, freeing musicians from the time constraints of the ] record (EP). The ], being more expensive, was aimed at the adult audience who could afford to spend the extra money on records.

	], ] and ] released some of the most popular early LPs recorded in a jazz vein. Though constrained by the material, Ella Fitzgerald's ''Songbook'' series introduced a great many people to jazz singing.

	] is credited as an innovator of ], a musical style in which lyrics are set to an instrumental composition or solo.

	Many of the singers who had worked with the ] of the swing era were now solo artists, in the prime of their careers and many had achieved fame internationally.

	], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], and ] all advanced vocal jazz during this period.

	==1970 to future==
	Vocal jazz, since 1970, has been led by notable artists including ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], among others.

	Other popular contemporary jazz vocalist include ], ], ], ], ], young ], ], ], ] and ].

	Vocal jazz has been mainly a mainstream, as opposed to ''avant-garde,'' phenomenon. However, some performers, such as ] and ], have performed within an avant garde vein.

	==Vocal jazz ensembles==

	Throughout most of jazz history, most vocal music was performed by either a soloist or a very small group of singers, usually one to a part. In the mid-1960s, a few directors decided to try transcribing ] charts for voices. This idea was first tried by ] at ] in 1967 with a group called Genesis. The group hosted the oldest vocal jazz festival in the United States, the Northwest Vocal Jazz Festival. Hal Malcom directed the group for 23 years until passing it to his former student, Dave Barduhn, who directed this group until his retirement in the Spring of 2012.

	11 years later, in 1978, Lonnie Cline brought the jazz ensemble format to a small Idaho town and high school named Mountain Home (which won the Mt. Hood and Reno Jazz Festivals in 1978, '79, and '80), before forming a sister group to Hal's at ]. This group eventually took the name ], under which it performs today. Mainstream was a new type of ensemble, one that moved away from performing the big band arrangements and other jazz standards and began to learn and perform a wide variety of music, including jazz, rock, pop, funk, and fusion. The idea was looked down upon at first but eventually was adopted by many and is now popular in high schools across the United States.

	A vocal jazz ensemble usually consists of the choir, normally made up of 8–16 singers, and a ] most often consisting of a pianist, a bassist, a guitarist, and a drummer. Singers either each hold a microphone or sing with area microphones. Vocal jazz ensembles also often sing ].

	==References==		==References==

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Vocal jazz or jazz singing is an instrumental approach to the voice.