You want to find your true jazz sound, right? The thing is, your real jazz voice is unique and personal. It’s your own original sound. It can’t be learned. It has to come out of you. So, how do you do that? How do you find your true jazz sound?
The first step to developing your own unique style as a jazz vocalist is to simply listen to yourself. Rather than listening to Ella, Sarah, or Billie, listen to your own voice. Many singers that I have worked with have tried to copy the style, tone, vibrato, etc. of their idols. But the truth of the matter is, even if you do succeed in sounding just like Ella Fitzgerald, it will never have the same emotional impact as singing with your own voice. All of the great jazz vocalists have their own unique sound, their own particular flavor. And the best way to find your own unique sound is to listen to it. Try this exercise: sing a simple melody into a tape recorder, like the first four bars of My Funny Valentine. Then play it back and listen to your own voice. What does it make you feel? Repeat this process several times a week, just listening to your own voice and making mental or written notes about its characteristics. What is the color or timbre of your voice? Is it warm or cool? Does it have a nice ring or edge to it? What are its strengths and weaknesses?
As you learn to hear this in your own instrument, you then refine the sound rather than radically altering it. Perfection of imitation is not what jazz is about, so it’s not necessary to push your sound to an unrealistic model. Try it a bit more forward, a bit more backward, a bit more open or closed, etc. and see what feels/sounds right for you. Record yourself singing major and minor scales in various keys, and observe your body’s response. Your body will remember what feels good more readily than your ear will, and what feels good as a jazz vocalist is what will sound authentic.
One of the most important elements of authenticity is improvisation. I find that many musicians are reluctant to improvise because they are afraid of sounding “wrong.” The truth is, authentic improvisations usually don’t sound right at first. They sound human, vulnerable, and relatable. Start with just a few notes from the chord, say only the chord tones, and find ways to repeat them, bend them, delay them, or anticipate them in a way that is emotionally accurate, even if it’s not theoretically correct. Record a few moments at a time without judgment, and listen back at a later time with the same kindness that you would offer to a friend. As this practice develops over weeks and months, you will be able to string these moments of truthfulness into longer phrases that sound like you, not someone else’s language.
I’m sure I don’t have to tell you the importance of listening in all of this. It is not only to figure out the phrase, but listen to how Billie Holiday used space, Chet Baker told a story with little vibrato, or Ella Fitzgerald had so much fun with her virtuosity. When you sing again after listening, the way you identify with the elements of a recording dictate how your singing will change. This interplay of input to output is the essence of development.
In the end, discovering your jazz voice is a process of dialogue between your current self and the self that the music is challenging you to grow into, and with every gig, every rehearsal, and every authentic utterance, the dialogue continues. There is a special radiance that surrounds a vocalist when he or she finally feels at home in their own voice: it is equal parts risk and security, mastery and abandon. That is the unique enchantment of jazz singing, and it can only happen when a singer is willing to sound like nobody else on the planet—because nobody else ever will.