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Bobby McFerrin joins forces with the Seattle Symphony for another masterful performance

Bobby McFerrin joins forces with the Seattle Symphony for another masterful performance
Conducting from memory, multi-dimensional vocalizations, and well chosen pieces highlight of the evening By E. Joyce Glasgow - SGN A& E Writer Bobby McFerrin leads a charmed musical life. With confidence, ease and lightness of spirit, he moves among different musical worlds. McFerrin, conducts symphony orchestras, performs solo shows, leads his accapella group "Voicestra" and records and performs with great musicians from different musical genres internationally, including classical cellist Yo-Yo Ma, jazz pianists Chick Correa and Herbie Hancock and The Vienna Philharmonic. He has won ten Grammy Awards and his recordings have sold over twenty million copies. He never ceases to amaze with his bottomless well of musical creativity, versatility and ideas. McFerrin appeared with the Seattle Symphony, April 27th-29th, conducting works by Prokofiev, Ravel and Beethoven and performing a set of solo vocal songs and improvisations. The orchestra sounded wonderful and full. McFerrin brought out nuances in the orchestra with his conducting that seemed to have the sensibility and attention to details that would come from someone who is a vocalist. In all cases, he led the instrumental soloists to express their parts with great clarity and musicality. McFerrin has a light, playful, fresh and up-lifting approach to conducting, giving pieces a whole new feeling and bringing out unexpected emphases. This approach particularly worked well with both the Prokofiev Symphony No. 1 in D major, Op. 25, "Classical" and the Ravel Le Tombeau de Couperin and somewhat with the Beethoven Symphony No. 8 in F major, Op. 93. McFerrin, remarkably, conducts from memory and never has the music in front of him. This allows him to fully concentrate visually on communicating with the orchestra members. His conducting style is playful, graceful and flamboyant. The orchestra really seems to enjoy his visits here and play very well under his direction. He is a very spiritual, open and friendly person and seems to interact well with the musicians. For his solo set of songs, McFerrin came out with his cordless microphone (a "Shure" wireless, for all of the singers out there wondering what is an excellent microphone for a vocalist to invest in) and has a great sound man, Danny Vicari, who has been doing a fantastic job with his sound for many years. McFerrin sat down in a chair, center stage. I looked for the customary staircases usually placed from the stage leading down into the audience and was a bit disappointed, realizing that he had no plans to either come into the audience or to invite audience members to the stage to have some fun with vocal improvisations. These audience participation segments have been something I've cherished at Bobby McFerrin concerts for over twenty years and although I understand that they are still a part of his solo and "Voicestra" concerts, they are not part of the structure of the solo segments when he is working with symphonies. He still engages the audience to participate as a whole, from their seats, but the excitement of one or five or ten individuals getting to play vocally with McFerrin has allowed the audience to vicariously participate through them, consistently initiating roaring laughter, applause and group exhilaration. This is a highlight and I miss this element of interaction. McFerrin did a swing, wordless vocal version of "You Make Me Feel So Young", followed by a Reggae inspired improvisation, and "Smile", done with a creative Latin feel. McFerrin utilized his multi-dimensional approach, combining vocalizations, breathing and body percussion, masterfully. On "Smile", I was amazed by the complexity and amount of simultaneous vocalizations he was producing. He then got the audience involved by a call and response version of the "Beverly Hillbillies" theme song. He followed that up with his tune "Drive" from his 1988, fourth album, Simple Pleasures (which won McFerrin three Grammy Awards and featured the international hit "Don't Worry Be Happy"). In "Drive", Mc Ferrin creates the sounds of a car accelerating through gears by placing the microphone up against his throat. The sounds he makes are uncanny and this tune is a real audience pleaser. He then had the audience sing Gounod's "Ave Maria" while he sang the First Prelude by Bach. This was a beautiful musical combination and thrilled the audience. He then sang a funny, exaggerated version of a country song by Kenny Rogers and ended with his traditional closer, a theatrical medley from the Wizard of Oz. After the Beethoven in the second half of the evening (and a standing ovation), he said goodbye by having the orchestra and audience sing the Mickey Mouse theme song together, which brought smiles to everyone's faces. For more information about Bobby McFerrin, visit www.bobbymcferrin.com.