In Freedom Sounds<\/i>, Ingrid Monson discusses how many jazz artists of the 50s and 60s were idolized as icons of the Civil Rights movement. \u00a0Cats like Hawkins, Coltrane, and Parker were given nicknames like \u201cBird\u201d and were then lauded as the free, independent individuals many Black Americans wished to be.<\/p>\n
The genre of vocalese is one such example of the sycophantic nature of many musical colleagues of the bebop jazzers. \u00a0Perhaps the originator of vocalese in 1940, Eddie Jefferson recorded many jazz hits such as Coleman Hawkins\u2019 “Body and Soul.” \u00a0In the recording<\/a>, Jefferson matches exactly Hawkins\u2019 phrases but with added words.<\/p>\n The very first line of the track attributes the song to Hawkins. \u00a0\u201cDon\u2019t you know he is the king of saxophones? \u00a0Yes indeed he is\u2026.Hawkins is his name.\u201d \u00a0Vocalese is an entirely different approach to jazz music than the bop stars of the era. \u00a0Instead of beginning with a “head” and trusting to the improvisatory skills of the musicians to solo over the chords, Jefferson obviously spent a lot of time carefully listening to Hawkins\u2019 style and choosing the perfect words to correspond to the fragments of melody. \u00a0This genre of jazz is a great honor to the original performers, as it carefully matches their original solos while providing lyrics detailing their talents as well as contributing some important history.<\/p>\n Later on, The Manhattan Transfer recorded the same track, using Jefferson\u2019s words, but in a four-part harmony.<\/p>\n