How to Approach a Vocalese (Without Losing Your Mind at Fast Tempos)
A student recently asked me:
“I wrote a vocalese to a bebop tune and the bridge feels impossible because I wrote words to Bird’s solo. My pitch accuracy and lyrical clarity suffer when I increase tempo. What do I do besides just practice slow?”
First of all, great question!
Let’s talk about what a vocalese actually is, why this struggle is completely normal, and how to approach it.
What Is a Vocalese?
A vocalese is instrumental music with lyrics added, usually to a bebop head or an improvised solo. You are essentially taking something written for or performed by an instrument and asking the human voice, with language attached, to do it. And that changes everything.
A vocalese is also a great way to break up the usual head-solos-head structure in jazz. It offers another way to expand the narrative of a piece, much like an introduction verse functions. This time, however, you get to show off your skill, phrasing, and personal liberties in a new way. It is a space where the voice becomes both an instrument and a storyteller, giving you the freedom to reshape the music while honoring the original solo.
Step 1: Learn the Solo Exactly
Before you change anything, you should be able to:
Sing the solo on syllables
Match articulation and phrasing
Lock into the rhythmic placement
Understand where the line lays against the time (playing back or ahead off the pulse)
This is your foundation! If you skip this step, your vocalese won’t feel grounded in the original interpretation. Once you master step one, you earn the right to reinterpret it.
*Note: These steps are for style. You may want to consider a good technical foundation as well. You should know what registers to use and when (chest, mix, head) and also map out/decide when you are changing octaves if the lines aren’t in your range.
Step 2: Understand That Words Change the Game
Here’s the key thing I tell my students:
Once you add lyrics, your articulation doesn’t need to match the instrumentalist anymore. In fact, if you’re doubling the melody on words with a horn or another instrument, you could even argue that the instrument now needs to match you. The phrasing becomes vocal-first, because the words and their clarity are the priority now.
The challenge with words is that they have:
Sticky consonants
Vowels of different shapes and weights
Natural inflections
A fast bebop line might feel fluid on syllables because you can choose the right scat syllables to help you, but once you insert text, you introduce friction. That is why it feels “sticky” at faster tempos. You cannot just pick the right syllables to help you now.
So your articulation does not need to match the instrumentalist exactly anymore. Once there are lyrics, clarity becomes more important than mimicry, while still rooting your liberties in the jazz style of course.
Essentially, you are allowed to rephrase. That is a vocalist’s job anyways! You can take liberties. That’s the beauty of vocalese.
*Note: If you are writing your own vocalese, pick words that match the inflection and timbre of what you are hearing. This will help keep the original integrity of the solo. Sometimes when I hear a phrase, just like picking a syllable, I can hear certain timbres as specific vowels, and that can influence what words I choose to end on and emphasize to support the narrative. Choosing words this way ensures the phrasing feels natural and musical while still conveying meaning.
Okay, that was a lot of info! Let’s look at an example of rephrasing a vocalese with four.
The Original Jon Hendricks Version
Nancy King’s Version
In Nancy King’s version, you can hear her take liberties with phrasing and tone color for the sake of text painting. For example, on the lyric “so enjoy it gaily” (1:35) she stretches the line, almost as if to say slow down and savor this like the lyric suggests. The changes are subtle but you can hear how the phrasing serves the lyric. That is artistry.
Final Thoughts
The Vocalese isn’t about proving how fast you can spit out the words. It’s about honoring the improvisation while allowing your humanity, storytelling and language to reshape it.
And when your pitch or clarity falls apart at tempo? That’s not failure! It’s a chance to showcase your artistry.
Want to Dive In Further?
If you want to take your vocalese and jazz singing to the next level, book a private jazz voice lesson with me. We can work on phrasing, creating your own vocalese, and mastering fast tempos while developing your own individual artistry! Visit my lesson page to get started.
