But it isn’t obvious in jazz. Though all the great jazz singers – like Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Jon Hendricks, Bobby McFerrin or Betty Carter – have sung wonderful songs, many of them are very good at copying the sounds of instruments. They can all improvise new melodies around the chords of the tune in a live situation, and some of them sing pure sounds or nonsense lyrics where the groove and the melody completely replace the words.
By inviting Eska Mtungwazi, a young singer familiar with gospel, soul, R&B, Western classical music and jazz, Jason was giving himself plenty of choice about how the voice could be used.
