Sing Your Story: Vocal Book & CD

This book tackles the real obstacles jazz singers face, not just how to sound good, but how to choose repertoire that fits your voice, manage performance anxiety, and actually build a sustainable music career. Clayton's inclusion of stage fright, gig preparation, and music business fundamentals makes this uniquely honest about what it takes to succeed as a jazz vocalist.

Conversational and grounded, like sitting down with an experienced vocalist who's willing to share both the artistic secrets and the practical realities of a jazz singing life. The included sound examples keep the learning tangible, showing you exactly what Clayton means by phrasing, scatting, and stylistic choices.

Jazz singers at intermediate level and above who want to move beyond imitation and develop genuine improvisation skills, as well as jazz directors seeking a comprehensive pedagogical resource for vocal students. Voice teachers working with jazz singers will find the business and performance sections especially valuable for preparing students for real-world gigs.

• Record yourself scatting over changes at multiple tempos; listening back reveals habits you can't hear in the moment and builds awareness of your melodic vocabulary.
• Select standards that sit naturally in your range first, then learn the lyric deeply before attempting melodic variations or improvisation.
• Study the original recorded versions of songs you're learning, but commit to developing your own interpretation rather than copying another singer's phrasing.
• Practice improvisation in low-pressure settings, around the piano with other musicians or alone, before bringing new ideas into performance contexts.

Use this as a semester-long resource for a jazz vocal technique or jazz improvisation course, assigning chapters in sequence as students build from repertoire selection and standard interpretation through improvisation and eventually performance and career preparation. The recorded examples make it equally valuable for independent study or private voice lessons focused on jazz singing.

• Scatting over chord changes and blues progressions
• Improvising melodic lines while maintaining lyrical integrity
• Developing personal interpretations of jazz standards
• Managing performance anxiety and stage presence
• Analyzing and learning from recorded jazz vocal models
• Choosing appropriate repertoire for individual voice type and range
• Understanding the music business side of gigging and promotion