Dinah Washington - Beggin' Mama Blues

Jazz, they’ll tell you, is a living, breathing American genre. It has no specific definition. It can withstand anything from the rhythms of an African tribe, to the swing of a big band, to the soaring vocals of an operatically trained singer and beyond... it can absorb almost any other type of music, dress it up or down, or turn it inside out and make it a part of the jazz label. Many artists who’ve made a name for themselves in other genres have successfully crossed over onto the jazz stage, and jazz has welcomed them with open arms.

With all of the freedom and flexibility of jazz music, it’s no surprise the evening’s master session focused largely on improvisation. After all, being able to weave in and out of melody and emulate rhythms and sounds coming from surrounding instruments is often considered the hallmark of jazz singing. But, as it turns out, improv isn’t just about spontaneous noise.

Improvisation should tell a story... to encourage aspiring jazz singers to consider improvisation like they would the lyric. Moments of scat, those seemingly nonsensical syllables that jazz singers utter in the midst of a song, should... come directly from the heart and have real thought and meaning behind them.

The audience was treated to a thrilling example of this heartfelt jazz riffing when Ms. Reeves interrupted... by adding her own scat improvisations... The two voices then blended in a beautiful impromptu duet in which their joyful master apprentice relationship was made wonderfully clear.

Ms. Reeves also pointed out that any jazz song or jazz performance has the power to shift and change. A jazz singer... is a vocal instrument in a band, and she enthusiastically suggested that up and coming jazz singers should explore different rhythms, phrasing, and tempos with each new performance of the same material. She likewise asked students to pull from the various sounds they hear in other instruments to color and reshape their own vocal timbre whenever they feel inspired to do so. Mr. Elling drew on that theme by commenting that performances can also be influenced by other variables, including the mood of the audience, or the order in which the songs are sung.

Source: American Voices: Jazz Singing by Dianne Reeves

Dinah Washington - Beggin' Mama Blues

• Composed by: Wilbert Barranco
• Genre: Jazz, Blues
• Recorded in: December 1945

"Dinah Washington was well known for singing torch songs. She produced 45 R&B charted hits between 1948 and 1961, including 16 Top 15 placements between 1948 and 1950."

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