Musical Exploration with Bobby McFerrin & Friends
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Artist:
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Track:Round Midnight, Cosby Show Theme, etc.
I can't believe it's been over 2 months since I last posted anything.Things have picked up at work and in life, so I haven't been able to make as much time for MOG as I would like. Plus, my iPod was missing and just turned up a couple of weeks ago, so I wasn't spending as much time organizing music in iTunes and whatnot.Nevertheless, I felt I had to post about the most recent concert I attended, last Friday, on the final day of February.I remember the song "Don't Worry, Be Happy" when it hit the airwaves in the late 80s. I was about 8 or 9 at the time and was into mimicry and impersonations, so it hit a chord with me. I also remember having a cassette of Bobby McFerrin's album "Simple Pleasures" and truly grooving to all the different tunes on the album for quite so time. 
As I grew up and my tastes in music changed, I lost track of McFerrin and the many genres of music that he delved into. It was only in the last couple of years that I learned of his collaboration with world-renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma and jazz greats Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea.Many people immediately associate McFerrin with his one big hit song and don't realize that he is the son of a famous operatic baritone. His father, Robert McFerrin Sr., was the first African-American male to sing at the NY Metropolitan Opera and also provided vocals for Sidney Poitier in the 1959 film Porgy & Bess.Last fall, I was notified via email that McFerrin was coming to the Peace Center in Greenville, SC with a vocal ensemble named Voicestra. I marked the date mentally in my brain, but life happened, so I didn't actually purchase my ticket until the day before the show. Luckily, the show wasn't sold out and although I'd never been to the venue before, I was told by friends that even if I chose to get a seat in the balcony, I would still enjoy the show, as the acoustics in the Peace Center were fantastic.I got to the show a few minutes late, as it had been too long since I'd been to Greenville and I didn't realize that my GPS would have direct me straight through the busy downtown area. Once I made it into the auditorium, the usher advised me that my seat on the front row of the balcony was still available, but that it would be tough getting to my seat. She suggested I shuffle down one of the less-crowded aisles just above, so I did.
Bobby and his group were right in the middle of a vocal exploration of sorts. Voicestra is a 12-member group including Bobby that create music organically... in the moment, and this is a truly wonderful thing to experience. Most of the members are life-long musicians and a handful of them have been with the group since its genesis in 1986. The piece that was being performed when I arrived continued for at least 10-15 minutes more before the sound faded and the audience clapped with great fervor. Moments later, Bobby started a new rhythm and the various members of the ensemble fed off this one by one until the music reached a peak and they slowly tapered into other music environs.Eventually, Bobby sat back and let single members of the ensemble step forward and start new music of their own. A silver-haired alto stepped forward and slowly worked her way into an extended scat, spouting off some hilarious anecdotes as she went along. 
One of the tenors bounced out of formation and created a wholly different piece with some great rhythms from multiple genres. One of the ladies singing soprano explored tenets of Middle Eastern music. Outside of brief breaks for applause and a sip or two of water, the group never really stopped for the next 90-100 minutes.In the end, they began a fun, thumping piece of music and worked their way off stage like a vocal marching band. As the audience began applauding for an encore, the music continued from backstage for a good 5 minutes before the group came back out and finished the piece before calling it a night.Here's a brief video of McFerrin & Voicestra performing at the 2008 Montreal Winter Jazz Festival just a few days prior to the show I attended:And here's another video of McFerrin with Voicestra from a show in Miami in February 2007. The view in the video is pretty much the vantage point I had:I also dug up this weekend review from the arts writer from The Greenville News who also attended the show.Bobby continues his tour with Voicestra through next week before he takes about a month off and then returns with a few shows at Carnegie Hall, including a new performance with Yo-Yo Ma and later a small tour around the U.S. with Chick Corea and Jack DeJohnette. More info here.Finally, as an added bonus, here's a video from 1987 of McFerrin performing Thelonious Monk's "'Round Midnight," along with the jazz trio of Herbie Hancock and Tony & Buster Williams.And that's not all... since I am going to see Bill Cosby this coming weekend in Atlanta, see the title section above for an MP3 of McFerrin performing the Cosby Show theme.
As I grew up and my tastes in music changed, I lost track of McFerrin and the many genres of music that he delved into. It was only in the last couple of years that I learned of his collaboration with world-renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma and jazz greats Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea.Many people immediately associate McFerrin with his one big hit song and don't realize that he is the son of a famous operatic baritone. His father, Robert McFerrin Sr., was the first African-American male to sing at the NY Metropolitan Opera and also provided vocals for Sidney Poitier in the 1959 film Porgy & Bess.Last fall, I was notified via email that McFerrin was coming to the Peace Center in Greenville, SC with a vocal ensemble named Voicestra. I marked the date mentally in my brain, but life happened, so I didn't actually purchase my ticket until the day before the show. Luckily, the show wasn't sold out and although I'd never been to the venue before, I was told by friends that even if I chose to get a seat in the balcony, I would still enjoy the show, as the acoustics in the Peace Center were fantastic.I got to the show a few minutes late, as it had been too long since I'd been to Greenville and I didn't realize that my GPS would have direct me straight through the busy downtown area. Once I made it into the auditorium, the usher advised me that my seat on the front row of the balcony was still available, but that it would be tough getting to my seat. She suggested I shuffle down one of the less-crowded aisles just above, so I did.Bobby and his group were right in the middle of a vocal exploration of sorts. Voicestra is a 12-member group including Bobby that create music organically... in the moment, and this is a truly wonderful thing to experience. Most of the members are life-long musicians and a handful of them have been with the group since its genesis in 1986. The piece that was being performed when I arrived continued for at least 10-15 minutes more before the sound faded and the audience clapped with great fervor. Moments later, Bobby started a new rhythm and the various members of the ensemble fed off this one by one until the music reached a peak and they slowly tapered into other music environs.Eventually, Bobby sat back and let single members of the ensemble step forward and start new music of their own. A silver-haired alto stepped forward and slowly worked her way into an extended scat, spouting off some hilarious anecdotes as she went along. One of the tenors bounced out of formation and created a wholly different piece with some great rhythms from multiple genres. One of the ladies singing soprano explored tenets of Middle Eastern music. Outside of brief breaks for applause and a sip or two of water, the group never really stopped for the next 90-100 minutes.In the end, they began a fun, thumping piece of music and worked their way off stage like a vocal marching band. As the audience began applauding for an encore, the music continued from backstage for a good 5 minutes before the group came back out and finished the piece before calling it a night.Here's a brief video of McFerrin & Voicestra performing at the 2008 Montreal Winter Jazz Festival just a few days prior to the show I attended:And here's another video of McFerrin with Voicestra from a show in Miami in February 2007. The view in the video is pretty much the vantage point I had:I also dug up this weekend review from the arts writer from The Greenville News who also attended the show.Bobby continues his tour with Voicestra through next week before he takes about a month off and then returns with a few shows at Carnegie Hall, including a new performance with Yo-Yo Ma and later a small tour around the U.S. with Chick Corea and Jack DeJohnette. More info here.Finally, as an added bonus, here's a video from 1987 of McFerrin performing Thelonious Monk's "'Round Midnight," along with the jazz trio of Herbie Hancock and Tony & Buster Williams.And that's not all... since I am going to see Bill Cosby this coming weekend in Atlanta, see the title section above for an MP3 of McFerrin performing the Cosby Show theme.
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