PROPS TO BOBBY MACK!

I caught Bobby McFerrin at Roy Thompson Hall. I have to admit that this was probably the most unique concert experience that I’ve had. It’s NOT your typical jazz concert: all that’s on stage is a chair and a bottle of water. The only piece of sound equipment he used was a wireless handheld mic. I’m just blown away by how a simple set up can leave such a deep impression on me. I think it goes to show just how talented this 4-octave-range, 10-time Grammy award-winner, improvisational son of 2 opera singers really is:

- The first piece was completely improvised as he later shared in his Q&A session; he makes it a point to start off each concert with a completely improvised piece as he feels that if he can get past the most challenging part, the rest of the performance is a cakewalk; it was a calm piece that captured the audience’s attention by displaying his amazing range and ability to sing bass and soprano seamlessly in one phrase
- There was one song that reminded me of a Tibetan piece where he had the audience hum a single note throughout and he descanted above it, making his voice sound like a pan flute
- At one point, he split the audience into two halves, assigning each half with its own 2 note musical phrase (and he did this without using words to explain what to do!); he did a catchy jazzy piece and we were literally competing against the other half as he conducted us when to sing our assigned part
- THE MAN HAS A POLYPHONIC VOICE! He shared the secret afterwards (he would hum one note and buzz his lips to create the other) but when you first hear it, you literally jump out of your seat screaming expletives in disbelief!
- He got the audience singing a bass line for him, conducting us by jumping to various spots on the stage (ala Tom Hanks in Big) and singing an entire piece over us
- He did a Bach’s Prelude No 1, making his voice sound like an organ while he had the audience "lah-ing"Ave Maria on top – literally brought tears to my eyes
- He did a whole session of improvised dancing after asking for audience participation. More than 70 people were on stage and they weren’t only just kids. It was amazing seeing grown men contort their bodies (because I couldn’t really call what they were doing dancing) in time and tempo to what Bobby was doing – all improvised
- He did Blackbird all by himself (including bird tweets)!
- He did a very entertaining, abridged version of the wizard of Oz (singing all the parts)
- The encore was a Q&A session where he sat at the front of the stage taking questions from the audience (which turned out mainly to be requests for “Don’t Worry, Be Happy”); unusual because most encores that I’ve been through have the headliner doing another song, although he did do an African beats thing when the lady asked him why he doesn’t incorporate that type of music into his set; he also started into “Thinking About Your Body” but classily cut it short, saying that there were too many young people in the audience!
- There was no intermission
- I discovered that this concert was part of the “Share The Music” series, where they arranged for corporate sponsors to purchase 150 tickets to distribute to less fortunate kids to attend this concert; these kids who got to attend a pre-concert workshop with Bobby and were treated to a BBQ dinner before the show
- When asked what inspired him, he mentioned the Psalms; especially how it is a song book and it’s found right in the middle of the Bible, kind of like it’s heart pulse