{"id":15705,"date":"2014-12-09T10:03:26","date_gmt":"2014-12-09T18:03:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/?p=15705"},"modified":"2014-12-09T10:14:39","modified_gmt":"2014-12-09T18:14:39","slug":"bobby-mcferrin-sings-frolics-conducts-with-san-francisco-symphony","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/bobby-mcferrin-sings-frolics-conducts-with-san-francisco-symphony\/","title":{"rendered":"Bobby McFerrin sings, frolics, conducts with San Francisco Symphony"},"content":{"rendered":"

[Woody’s [rating: 5]<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Bobby McFerrin<\/p><\/div>\n

Not everything Bobby McFerrin does musically is a 10. Once in a rare while he descends to a nine and a half.<\/p>\n

In 1984, my wife heard a solo cut from his second album on jazz radio. She rushed out to buy \u201cThe Voice,\u201d then made me listen.<\/p>\n

I became an instant acolyte.<\/p>\n

Soon, we caught him live in a Noe Valley church.<\/p>\n

He vocalized unusual but pleasing sounds I hadn\u2019t heard and, adding depth and texture, rhythmically pounded his chest in what I didn\u2019t know would be recognized as beatboxing.<\/p>\n

Humor was his sidekick.<\/p>\n

Later we heard him reimagine all the \u201cThe Wizard of Oz\u201d sounds and voices, and later yet watched him during a San Francisco rehearsal of Garrison Keillor\u2019s \u201cPrairie Home Companion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clearly we\u2019d found a musical magician, a guy with a four octave vocal range able to transform his environment with improvisational genius.<\/p>\n

Through the years he stretched his talent, his genres and his venues.<\/p>\n

He won 10 Grammys and, with \u201cDon\u2019t Worry, Be Happy,\u201d reached the top of the pop charts. He collaborated with classical superstar Yo-Yo Ma and jazz hall-of-famer Chick Corea. He assembled an improv vocal troupe, Voicestra. And he conducted the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony and the Vienna Philharmonic.<\/p>\n

His conducting debut, with the San Francisco Symphony, took place on his 40th birthday, 25 years ago.<\/p>\n

I watched him conduct that orchestra (which is always splendid) and sing George Gershwin this month.<\/p>\n

His hair and dreadlocks now are tinged with white. But his talents haven\u2019t aged; they have, rather, expanded exponentially.<\/p>\n

His concerts include frolicking galore. He likes to tell people he\u2019s a graduate of MSU \u2014 \u201cMaking Stuff Up\u201d<\/p>\n

McFerrin bent his \u201cPorgy and Bess\u201d set, for instance, to include \u201cI Got Rhythm,\u201d a Gershwin tune that was never part of the jazz opera score; and an improv medley with \u201cA Horse with No Name,\u201d a countrified falsetto duet featuring him and his bassist, Jeff Carney, and a free-form \u201cI Want to Thank You for Letting Me Be Myself Again,\u201d none of which bore any resemblance to Gershwin.<\/p>\n

He also playfully superimposed a British accent on \u201cA Foggy Day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Periodically switching between registers to create polyphonic effects, McFerrin ultimately managed to saturate the set with \u201cPorgy\u201d tunes based on Gil Evans\u2019 arrangements for Miles Davis: \u201cSummertime,\u201d \u201cIt Ain\u2019t Necessarily So\u201d and \u201cA Woman Is a Sometime Thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

His superb backup trio, functioning sans symphony, showcased pianist-arranger Gil Goldstein, who\u2019d been an Evans\u2019 prot\u00e9g\u00e9, and drummer Louis Cato.<\/p>\n

McFerrin, who fingered the mic as if playing the clarinet (his first childhood instrument), also injected a screechy comedic voice that reminded me of Flip Wilson\u2019s character Geraldine.<\/p>\n

But \u201cPorgy and Bess\u201d has a special place in the singer\u2019s heart.<\/p>\n

His father, a baritone, was first African-American man to sing New York City\u2019s Metropolitan Opera. The senior McFerrin also sang the \u201cPorgy\u201d role in Otto Preminger\u2019s 1958 film, for lip-synching actor Sidney Poitier.<\/p>\n

As a child, Bobby McFerrin was inundated with the music of Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Marvin Gaye, Led Zeppelin and Sergio Mendes, then the Beatles and Miles Davis \u2014 all overlaid with Verdi and other classical strains.<\/p>\n

Plus Gershwin.<\/p>\n

So it figures that using his voice as a multi-faceted instrument on \u201cRhapsody in Blue\u201d might feel natural.<\/p>\n

Ditto his conducting \u201cAn American in Paris.\u201d<\/p>\n

McFerrin\u2019s audience was diverse in ethnicity. And age.<\/p>\n

Within seconds, I spied an old man hobbling on crutches and a young girl hobbling on what obviously were her first high heels.<\/p>\n

The gender split seemed equal.<\/p>\n

I know not what occurred in the ladies room, but several guys were singing his encore \u2014 \u201cOur Love Is Here to Stay,\u201d Gershwin\u2019s final composition \u2014 at the urinals after the two-hour show.<\/p>\n

McFerrin\u2019s been quoted saying, \u201cI try not to \u2018perform\u2019 onstage. I try to sing the way I sing in my kitchen.\u201d<\/p>\n

He pulls it off.<\/p>\n

Onstage at Davies Hall, he appeared at ease. And because he was having fun, his attitude spread over the audience.<\/p>\n

Which gave him a standing ovation.<\/p>\n

Of course.<\/p>\n

Upcoming pop performance at Davies, Grove Street (between Van Ness and Franklin), San Francisco, will include \u201cA New Year\u2019s Event with Seth MacFarlane\u201d Dec. 31, and \u201cPatti LuPone: Far Away Places\u201d(without symphony) Feb. 23. Information: (415) 864-6400 or www.sfsymphony.org.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[Woody’s [rating: 5] Not everything Bobby McFerrin does musically is a 10. Once in a rare while he descends to a nine and a half. In 1984, my wife heard…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"yasr_overall_rating":0,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-15705","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-woody-weingarten"},"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":true,"span_bottom":"