"Everybody Jam!" is a song by

Scatman John John Paul Larkin (March 13, 1942 – December 3, 1999), known professionally under the alias Scatman John, was an American musician. A prolific jazz pianist and vocalist for several decades, he rose to prominence in 1994 through his fusion of s ...

, released as a single from the album of the same name. It is a tribute to the music of

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 ...

with samples of his voice edited into the track as if in conversation with the Scatman. Also included is a trumpet solo sampled from Armstrong's version of

Skokiaan "Skokiaan" is a Popular music, popular Melody, tune originally written by Zimbabwean musician August Msarurgwa, August Musarurwa in the "Tsaba-tsaba" big band-style that succeeded Marabi. "Skokiaan" ("Chikokiyana" in Shona language, Shona)

. The song charted at number-one in the Czech Republic and number 46 in Germany.

Critical reception

Larry Flick Larry Flick is an American journalist, former dance music columnist, single reviewer, and Senior Talent Editor for ''Billboard'' magazine, where he worked for 14 years. Now he produces and hosts Sirius XM radio shows. Flick started in the musi ...

from ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' described the song as a "amusing and charming dance ditty". He added that "This time, John's flashy vocal skills are put to the test over a galloping

disco Disco is a music genre, genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightclub, nightlife, particularly in African Americans, African-American, Italian-Americans, Italian-American, LGBTQ ...

groove that is laced with big-band horns and swaggering male background chants."

Music video

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

was produced to promote the single, directed by Doro. The video was filmed on location in

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

and cost around $500,000 US. According to the Scatman, "the day we shot the video was a day beyond all boundaries of time and space. Full of magic. All of the images together created the perfect atmosphere for showing the heart and soul of

's roots". In the video, Scatman John, walking across a parking lot, sees the ghost of Louis Armstrong on the side of a building and accepts his invitation to duet. The bulk of the video takes place in a Louisiana street parade with Scatman and Louis riding along behind a marching band in a

Cadillac Cadillac Motor Car Division, or simply Cadillac (), is the luxury vehicle division (business), division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM). Its major markets are the United States, Canada and China; Cadillac models are ...

. Several children dressed up like Scatman are seen in the procession whilst onlookers wave Scatman and Louis flags. The video ends with Scatman looking up at Louis in the parking lot where it started. An alternate version of the music video was released with some parts of the video replaced with different scenes. "Everybody Jam!" was later published on Scatman John's official

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channel in August 2014. The video has amassed more than 3 million views as of March 2023.

Single track listing

CD #"Everybody Jam!" ingle Jam(3:29) #"Everybody Jam!" axi Jam(5:21) #"Everybody Jam!" lub Jam(5:40) #"Scatmusic" (3:55) 12" #"Everybody Jam!" J Errik's Commercial Charleston Club Mix(5:42) #"Everybody Jam!" J Errik's Nothing Like a Poison Jam Mix(5:50)

Charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Everybody Jam! (Song) Scatman John songs 1996 singles Cultural depictions of Louis Armstrong 1996 songs Number-one singles in the Czech Republic Jazz rap songs Electro swing songs