I just discovered (98/02/07) another great vocal jazz page on the web; have a look at Bernd van de Weteringh's Vocal Jazz page.
Please read on for a description of what we do.
We're basically like a large jazz band, except that most of the instruments in the band are human voices. We include a jazz rhythm section (piano, bass, and drums), and sometimes some horns, too.
The music we perform comes from the tradition of ``Lambert, Hendricks, and Ross,'' the ``Dave Labert Singers,'' ``Mel Tormé and the Mel-Tones,'' Gene Puerling's ``Singers Unlimited'', the ``Manhattan Transfer,'' and others. Some of the arrangements we sing were written expressly for voices, and others were transcribed from pre-existing instrumental arrangements.
When this includes putting words to improvised solos by jazz players, it is known as ``vocalese,'' a practice that probably started with Eddie Jefferson in the 1940s, and was continued by King Pleasure, Annie Ross, and especially Jon Hendricks.
For example, one piece in our repertoire is ``Take The `A' Train,'' written and arranged in 1941 by Billy Strayhorn for the Duke Ellington Orchestra. We sing all the horn parts (saxes, trumpets, and trombones) with words written by Jon Hendricks, including the Ray Nance trumpet solo.
Vocalese is not to be confused with ``scat'' singing. Whereas vocalese means singing English words (or lyrics in some other ``natural language''!) to a previously-recorded improvised solo, scatting means singing nonsense syllables, generally in the context of improvisation; this was first done in the 1920s by Louis Armstrong. Other important scat singers have been Ella Fitzgerald, Eddie Jefferson, Dizzy Gillespie, and Jon Hendricks.