The Singing Guitarist : My Duality within Jazz Improvisation

Jazz improvisation often involves a deep relationship between the performer and their instrument, but what happens when the performer inhabits two instruments at once? This thesis explores the dynamic interplay between guitar and voice in the context of jazz improvisation, and how this duality shapes personal musical expression. The aim is to investigate how improvisational ideas manifest differently when playing guitar or when singing, and how each discipline informs the other. The musical material consists of three jazz standards, each recorded twice in two separate sessions, once as an instrumental version and once as a vocal version, resulting in a total of twelve recordings. The process involves deliberate and exploratory practice, recording, transcription, analysis, and reflective journaling. The recordings and the transcriptions are analysed with attention to melody, rhythm, and harmony, alongside qualitative reflections on the improvisational experience. What emerges is not just a comparison between two means of expression, but a conversation, one that reveals how technique, intuition, and identity coalesce when navigating the space between guitar playing and singing.