Scat Singing
Preserved but no longer current.
A form of singing in jazz music in which meaningless syllables and sounds take the place of words, the voice being used rather as a musical instrument. It was invented by the greatest of all jazz musicians, Louis Armstrong, by accident as he was making a record of Heebie Jeebies, about 1926.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “Scat Singing” mean?
A form of singing in jazz music in which meaningless syllables and sounds take the place of words, the voice being used rather as a musical instrument. It was invented by the greatest of all jazz musicians, Louis Armstrong, by accident as he was making a record of Heebie Jeebies, about 1926.
Is “Scat Singing” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.