To applaud for jazz vocalists? Or not?

[Jack Clark]

Traveling the central and western U.S. on our jazz tour (as a member of the audience only), I've noticed that when there's a vocalist who starts a tune, he or she generally gets no applause when passing the tune on to an instrumentalist, whereas when a horn player starts a tune, they generally do.

Is that because after playing a vanilla head the jazz instrumentalist obviously improvises, and the vocalist doesn't? (But jazz vocalists usually do sing their own version of the melody--sometimes even the lyrics.)

Or is it maybe because the whole tune seems to belong to the vocalist, so they get theirs at the end?

Or maybe I'm the only one who sees this? Lots of times I feel like clapping after the vocalist's solo, but if I actually do they generally give me a surprised look, like it was vaguely out of place.

What have you guys noticed about this during your gigs?

[TroyK]

I have not noticed that. I'm sure it depends on the audience and the vocalist.

It's polite to applaud for solos, it's fine to applaud the head, but not what I would consider normal. I think the best rule is that if you sincerely want to show your appreciation for something someone played, by all means to do.

Is Seattle on your "Western State" tour? Love to meet traveling TB'ers.