"Heebie Jeebies" is a composition written by Boyd Atkins which achieved fame when it was recorded by

Louis Armstrong Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several era ...

in 1926. Armstrong also performed "Heebie Jeebies" as a number at the Vendome Theatre. The recording on

Okeh Records OKeh Records () is an American record label founded by the Otto Heinemann Phonograph Corporation, a phonograph supplier established in 1916, which branched out into phonograph records in 1918. The name originally was spelled "OkeH" from the init ...

by Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five includes a famous example of

scat singing Originating in vocal jazz, scat singing or scatting is vocal Musical improvisation, improvisation with Non-lexical vocables in music, wordless vocables, Pseudoword#Nonsense syllables, nonsense syllables or without words at all. In scat singing, t ...

by Armstrong. After the success of the recording, an accompanying dance was choreographed and advertised by Okeh. A popular legend (apparently originating from a 1930s claim by Richard M. Jones) says that Armstrong dropped his lyric sheet while recording the song and for lack of words to sing, began to improvise his vocals and thereby created the technique of

. This story, though popular, may be apocryphal. Although Armstrong did not invent scat singing, because it was already practiced by many musicians in New Orleans during the early twentieth century, Armstrong,

Kid Ory Edward "Kid" Ory (December 25, 1886 – January 23, 1973) was an American jazz composer, Trombone, trombonist and bandleader. One of the early users of the glissando technique, he helped establish it as a central element of Music of New Orle ...

, and

Johnny St. Cyr Johnny St. Cyr () (April 17, 1890 – June 17, 1966) was an American jazz Banjo#Six-string banjos, banjoist and guitarist. He was one of the original pioneers of jazz music, playing banjo and guitar in the bands of Louis Armstrong, King Oliver, J ...

confirm in their accounts that he did drop the sheet music during the session, prompting the need to improvise. Nevertheless, the inventiveness of the technique impressed many when the record first came out. Mezz Mezzrow's book '' Really the Blues'' recounts the delighted reactions of Frank Teschmacher,

Bix Beiderbecke Leon Bismark "Bix" Beiderbecke ( ; March 10, 1903 – August 6, 1931) was an American jazz cornetist, pianist and composer. Beiderbecke was one of the most influential jazz soloists of the 1920s, a cornet player noted for an inventive lyrical a ...

, and other musicians. Another notable feature of the record is the

hokum Hokum is a particular song type of American blues music—a song which uses extended analogies or euphemistic terms to make humorous, sexual innuendos. This trope goes back to early dirty blues recordings, enjoyed huge commercial success in ...

coda, in which a line is delivered too early, leaving the break over which it should have been spoken completely empty. Various other recordings of the tune followed in the 1920s and 1930s. The

Boswell Sisters The Boswell Sisters were an American close harmony singing trio of the jazz and swing eras, consisting of three sisters: Martha Boswell (June 9, 1905 – July 2, 1958), Connie Boswell (later spelled "Connee", December 3, 1907 – October 11 ...

performed the tune on radio, record, and in the film ''

The Big Broadcast ''The Big Broadcast'' is a 1932 American pre-Code musical comedy film directed by Frank Tuttle and starring Bing Crosby, Stuart Erwin, and Leila Hyams. Based on the play ''Wild Waves'' by William Ford Manley, the film is about a radio-singer ...

''.

Chick Webb William Henry "Chick" Webb (February 10, 1905 – June 16, 1939) was an American jazz and swing music drummer and band leader. Early life Webb was born in Baltimore, Maryland, to William H. and Marie Webb. The year of his birth is disputed. The ...

made a notable recording with an arrangement by

Benny Carter Bennett Lester Carter (August 8, 1907 – July 12, 2003) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, trumpeter, composer, arranger, and bandleader. With Johnny Hodges, he was a pioneer on the alto saxophone. From the beginning of his career ...

References

* ''Who Wrote that Song?''

Dick Jacobs Dick Jacobs (29 March 1918 – 20 May 1988) was an American musician, conductor, arranger, orchestrator, music director and an artists-and-repertoire director for several record labels (Coral, Decca, Brunswick and Springboard). He h ...

& Harriet Jacobs, published by Writer's Digest Books, 1993 {{authority control Louis Armstrong songs Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipients 1926 songs

See also

References