★★★★★
For this project, the chameleon-like vocalist Bobby McFerrin has drawn together some exemplary jazz talent, notably bassists Esperenza Spalding and Larry Grenadier, for an album that takes traditional African-American spirituals as its focus. It is also a heartfelt homage to his father, baritone Robert McFerrin, the first African-American to sing a title role at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. The disc opens with 'Every Time', a tune that McFerrin Senior recorded in 1957...
- www.classical-music.com
2013-08-29
★★★★★
A 10-time Grammy winner, Bobby McFerrin
Bobby McFerrin
b.1950 vocal
's undeniable gifted voice has not only inspired audiences with its unique qualities but also imbued his spiritual roots as found in songs throughout his discography such as the colorful Garden of Eden expression, "The Garden" from 2010's VOCAbuLarieS (EmArcy) or the unique scriptural vocal rendition of "The 23rd Psalm" from his 1990 release Medicine Music...
- www.allaboutjazz.com
2013-07-16
★★★★★
No one should ever dismiss Bobby McFerrin. It's easy to forever associate him with the theme from The Cosby Show and "Don't Worry, Be Happy", but that disservices the listener far more than it does McFerrin. Yes, his innovation in the realm of a cappella is what he is best known for, but beyond the rhythmic body lies a voice so incredibly emotive. spirityouall is by all means a departure from jazz, and jazz in its truest sense ... interpretive reinvention...
- www.popmatters.com
2013-06-29
★★★★★
This is the same gospel and African-American roots-music repertoire that improv vocal virtuoso Bobby McFerrin performed in London in March, but here with star singer and double-bassist Esperanza Spalding as his partner. It manages to preserve the defiance, drama, faith and heart of the original gospel classics, while making them sound like contemporary music, with all that entails in terms of global references, urban nous and erudite fluency...
- www.guardian.co.uk
2013-06-28
★★★★★
Bobby McFerrin does gospel. The idea either inspires gales of glee or nervous hesitation. The result is something technically creative and even daring, nothing less than what would be expected from the acappella genius, but not necessarily emotionally compelling. In this work set to folk, country, and a hybrid of jazz folk music, McFerrin plays plenty in his characteristic improvisational style, but Gil Goldstein's Americana arrangements too often do not offer the prospect of gospel's...
- www.soultracks.com
2013-06-06
★★★★★
The Best of Bobby McFerrin showcases theworld's most musical comedian, performing a few of his signaturetunes of the past decade: "Don't Worry, Be Happy," "Thinkin'About Your Body," his one-man-band Beatles covers. ButMcFerrin's amazing facility is also his curse; he flitsrestlessly among his million voices. It would be nice to hearhim sing an entire album in one voice. Then again, if you'recapable of the inspired wackiness of "Good Lovin'," it must behard to play things straight.
- ew.com
2011-03-03
★★★★★
In international music circles, Bobby McFerrin is considered an uncommon, almost superhuman treasure. Few mediums have demonstrated all that can be done and transcended with the human voice like this multi-genre singer, composer, arranger and producer has. It's criminal that for many he will forever be pigeon-holed as the dreadlocked Jamaican who in 1988 cheerfully chirped "Don't Worry, Be Happy" to #1 prominence on pretty much every sales chart known to man...
- www.soultracks.com
2010-12-07
★★★★★
VOCAbuLarieS took seven years to put together, and it shows. Not only is it vocalist Bobby McFerrrin's most ambitious and wide-ranging work to date, it is also one of the most complex albums ever constructed. Remarkably, it contains more than 1,400 vocal tracks recorded by over 50 top singers, individually or in small groups, before being assembled to create a virtual choir. The end result has that wow factor which signals an instant classic...
- www.bbc.co.uk
2010-08-22
★★★★★
Bobby McFerrin?master of all music, a man whose career embraces, jazz, pop and classical has one busy schedule coming up in 2008. This world famous vocal innovator and improviser, who added classical to his repertoire in the nineties, began the year in Southern California with concerts at the Orange County Performing Arts Center with the Pacific Symphony Orchestra, conducting Prokofiev's "Symphony No. 1" and Mendelssohn's "Symphony No...
- www.allaboutjazz.com
2010-08-20
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