I’m seeing Bobby McFerrin tonight in concert for the sixth time, and that prompted me to do a quick retrospective on the roughly quarter century of my hearing him perform. Each one was unique and has remained with me, as the best live performances do.
April, 1996
My first time seeing Bobby was with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra at Detroit Orchestra Hall. This was shortly after he’d begun his conducting career, which began around 1990 with his 40th birthday. Bobby did some standard orchestral repertoire, but also did a solo set at the end of the first half. For me, the highlight was his tour-de-force performance of Over The Rainbow, which morphs into a complete recap of the whole Wizard of Oz. Eight minutes of joy. There are many performances of it on YouTube.
Summer, 1999
This performance was with the jazz ensemble Astral Project, who has been part of Bobby’s early musical experiments in the 1970s. I attend with a high school friend and Derek, a fellow WMU jazz voice major. Bobby did repertoire from his first record, a solo set, and of course included his audience. The band was great and it was great to hear some of those early recordings come to life, such as “Chicken,” and to hear Bobby interpret standards in a more traditional jazz context than he usually works. A highlight was watching Derek run up and trade 4’s with Bobby.
Spring, 2002.
With the Florida Philharmonic at the University of Miami. This was roughly a year before the Florida Phil ceased to exist. As poor grad students, my wife and I finagled ushering jobs for the night so we could hear a concert that was beyond our budget. Highlights included hearing him interpret the Bach/Gounod “Ave Maria” with the audience singing the melody while he sang the Bach C Major Prelude. Mandy, of course, knew it perfectly, so it was great to be sitting next to her. He closed the performance with the orchestra “playing” the William Tell Overture, and I put playing in quotes because after the opening brass fanfare, the orchestra members put their instruments in their laps and SANG their parts. It seemed to me that no one but Bobby McFerrin could convince an orchestra to be so brave.
Autumn, 2004
In one of the big halls in Detroit, Bobby performed alongside tap phenom Savion Glover. They each gave solo sets as well as a doing a set together. I remember the free, improvisational nature of the entire performance, and the joy of seeing two confident, polished, open artists together was truly joyous.
Mid-2000’s
Bobby was a long-time friend and supporter of Steve Zegree, and it was a great joy that he was an occasional visitor to campus to work with students. While I didn’t get the chance to interact with him at WMU, I did get to be in the audience for a Gold Company show where he was present. They performed The Garden and other things, he did a solo set, and no surprise, he wandered out sometimes to add a little extra sparkle to something Gold Company was doing. Here’s them doing In A Mellow Tone.
Tonight Bobby will be performing with Gimme5, four longtime collaborators who do extended Circlesong improvisations together. I can’t wait to hear what musical joy it brings, and I’m especially excited to finally get to make music with Bobby, as part of a group of educators who signed up for a masterclass and to be a part of his concert!
I own every Bobby McFerrin album whose existence I know of, from early vinyl to spirityouall and much in between. He’s been a formative part of my musical experience and as he nears 70, he continues to make musical magic.