American scat singing master

American jazz singer Amy London appeared at Nardis Jazz Club on Nov. 5 and 6, and she brought her treasure trove of scat classics with her. Scat singing, or vocal improvisation with nonsense syllables, is a rather rarified art that not every singer attempts. Legendary scat singers include Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald and Mel Tormé. Currently, Bobby McFerrin has taken scat into new territory with his wide-ranged eclectic vocalism.

London’s entertaining sets took us through some vocal jazz history with swinging renditions of “Too Close for Comfort,” “The Best Is Yet To Come” and an only recently discovered song by Charles Mingus, “All Alone.” Through her solid rhythmic foundation and crisp diction, she brought the old and the new into the spotlight with consummate style. Inspired and encouraged by Annie Ross, who wrote the jazz classic “Twisted” and was the female singer in the famous Lambert, Hendricks and Ross in the 1960s, Amy has also taken instrumental pieces and put her own lyrics and scat syllables to them.

London’s background -- years spent on the Broadway musical theater stage and working with many respected jazz musicians -- shows in the way she puts the material across the footlights with personality and polish. In addition to her amazing blizzard of improvised notes and words, vocal jazz itself glows with history’s heart attached.