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Bobby McFerrin

spirityouall

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Bobby McFerrin - SpiritYouAll | Musicians At Google
Bobby McFerrin Demonstrates the Power of the Pentatonic Scale
1 Everytime
2 Swing Low
3 Joshua
4 Fix Me Jesus
5 Woe
6 I Shall Be Released
7 Whole World
8 Gracious
9 25:15
10 Wade
11 Glory
12 Jesus Makes It Good
13 Rest / Yes Indeed
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For decades, Bobby McFerrin has broken all the rules. The 10-time Grammy winner waged a quiet revolution, blurring the distinction between pop music and high art, goofing around barefoot in the world's finest concert halls, exploring uncharted vocal territory, inspiring a whole new generation of a cappella singers and the beatbox movement. Now he surprises us by bringing it all back home with his new album, spirityouall, available on May 14, 2013 from Sony Masterworks.

On spirityouall Bobby McFerrin invites us to sit on the stoop awhile and listen as he throws some unexpected new ingredients into the melting pot and reinvents Americana. He embraces it all- bluegrass and the baroque, heartfelt lyrics and wordless melodies, joy and sorrow-across genres, across boundaries, across generations. He invites us back to the great folk tradition of lifting our voices to sing together through life's trials and triumphs.

spirityouall features seven classic spirituals, an unexpected cover (Bob Dylan's "I Shall Be Released"), and five original tunes ranging from a celebratory hoedown ("Rest") to a polemic anthem ("Woe"), to a down and dirty blues setting of Psalm 25:15. The stellar band includes Esperanza Spalding, who sings with Bobby on three tracks, Larry Grenadier on bass, multi-instrumentalist Larry Campbell, drummers Ali Jackson and Charley Drayton, and accordionist/keyboard wizard/arranger/musical director Gil Goldstein. spirityouall was recorded at Avatar Recording and Shelter Island Sound, both in New York City.

The bluesy, feel-good recording is an unexpected move from the music-industry rebel who singlehandedly redefined the role of the human voice with his a cappella hit "Don't Worry, Be Happy," his collaborations with Yo-Yo Ma, Chick Corea and the Vienna Philharmonic, his improvising choir Voicestra, and his legendary solo vocal performances. spirtyouall continues Bobby's lifelong quest to integrate all the influences of the musical universe. But as in so many great American tales, sometimes it turns out that everything one is searching for is in one's own backyard.

  • Bobby McFerrin's 'Circlesongs' set for Berkeley's Freight & Salvage / The Mercury News
    Posted At: June 2, 2023 12:00 AM
    Bobby McFerrin’s Circlesongs project has everyone singing for joyThe Mercury News - ANDREW GILBERT writes…..Just about every Monday afternoon at Freight & Salvage, Bobby McFerrin reenacts the creation of the universe. No stars or planets coalesce in the venerable Berkeley venue, but sitting on stage flanked by the four vocalists in his ensemble Motion, the NEA Jazz Master taps into a protean force conju...
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  • 'Sing along with Bobby' in Berkeley this Monday / Berkeleyside
    Posted At: May 19, 2023 12:00 AM
    WARNING! Listening to Bobby McFerrin sing may be hazardous to your preconceptions. Please be advised that, should you choose to subject yourself to this man's vocal alchemy, everything you thought you knew about the possibilities of the human voice will be challenged, discarded and rearranged. Those who are reluctant to surrender to such consistently inventive music may find themselves wondering why it took...
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  • Bobby McFerrin on a lifetime of breaking into new musical universes / San Francisco Chronicle
    Posted At: February 1, 2023 12:00 AM
    San Francisco Chronicle's Andrew Gilbert writes…..Given his druthers, Bobby McFerrin would not be traveling to Los Angeles this weekend to accept a Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award. “My wife and kids want me to go, and so does Linda,” he told The Chronicle, referring to Linda Goldstein, his manager since the San Francisco dawn of his career in the early 1980s.It’s not just that the vocal wizard and 10-time...
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  • Watch Ukraine military band play 'Don't Worry Be Happy' in Odessa, Bobby McFerrin shares video / Firstpost.
    Posted At: March 10, 2022 12:00 AM
    Firstpost writes….As the Russia-Ukraine crisis continues, a video of a Ukrainian military band performing Bobby McFerrin's classic hit song Don't Worry, Be Happy has taken the internet by storm.In this viral video, the band can be seen standing in front of a sandbag barricade near the famous Opera and Ballet Theatre in central Odessa. The video depicts five members of the band, all dressed in  military...
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  • Bobby McFerrin reflects on going from the hotel bar to prescribing 'medicine music' / NPR: Jazz Night in America
    Posted At: January 20, 2022 12:00 AM
    NPR writes….Bobby McFerrin was onto something when he titled his second album The Voice. At the time, in the mid-1980s, it was a sobriquet more readily associated with Frank Sinatra — but in its definitive clarity, loaded with implications, no term could have been better suited to his art. McFerrin made history with that release, a solo-vox tour de force, and later eclipsed his own feat with Simple Pleasure...
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  • NEA set to host virtual '2020 Jazz Masters' concert / The Southern Maryland Chronicle
    Posted At: July 17, 2020 12:00 AM

    The National Endowment for the Arts, in collaboration with SFJAZZ, will host a special online-only concert in honor of the 2020 NEA Jazz Masters-Dorthaan Kirk (A.B. Spellman Jazz Masters Fellowship for Jazz Advocacy), Bobby McFerrin, Roscoe Mitchell, and Reggie Workman-on Thursday, August 20, 2020, at 8:00 p.m. ET/5:00 p.m. PT. 2017 NEA Jazz Master Dee Dee Bridgewater will emcee this premier event, which...
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  • Meet The NEA's 2020 Jazz Masters: McFerrin, Mitchell, Workman And Kirk / NPR - WBGO
    Posted At: May 21, 2019 12:00 AM

    Two eminent avant-garde elders, a chameleonic vocal improviser, and a pioneering community organizer and presenter will make up the 2020 class of NEA Jazz Masters, according to an announcement this morning by the National Endowment for the Arts. The four incoming inductees - saxophonist Roscoe Mitchell, bassist Reggie Workman, vocalist Bobby McFerrin, and jazz advocate Dorthaan Kirk - will officially...
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  • Hear vocal renditions of instrumental classics taken to a different level / RollingStone India
    Posted At: April 4, 2019 12:00 AM

    Jazz is based on improvisations. An instrumentalist is given musical space to ‘play his piece,' essentially to express his feeling at that time for the tune that is being played. Over its long history, jazz recordings have many examples of inspired improvised solos from different artists on various instruments. Some of these notable solos have been interpreted with lyrics by jazz musicians who have...
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  • Bobby McFerrin brings his happiness tour to Chicago / The Chicago Crusader
    Posted At: February 21, 2019 12:00 AM

    LISTENING TO vocal virtuoso and 10-time Grammy Award winner Bobby McFerrin sing may be hazardous to your preconceptions. Side effects may include unparalleled joy, a new perspective on creativity, rejection of the predictable, and a sudden, irreversible, urge to lead a more spontaneous existence. McFerrin & Gimme5: Circlesongs comes to City Winery Chicago in four performances over two nights on Frida...
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  • Bobby McFerrin at the Dakota makes Minneapolis Star Tribune 'best concerts of the year'
    Posted At: December 21, 2018 12:00 AM

    Look at my lists for best albums and concerts of 2018 and you might conclude that women run the world of pop music. Perhaps. Future-funk high priestess Janelle Monáe, Americana ace Brandi Carlile and veteran song stylist Bettye LaVette all had impressive years. So did rap sensation Cardi B and pop siren Ariana Grande, both of whom dealt with personal ups and downs in song (and were close to ma...
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  • Bobby McFerrin set for The Ridgefield Playhouse / HamletHub
    Posted At: August 11, 2018 12:00 AM

    Ten-time Grammy Award winner, Bobby McFerrin will take the stage at The Ridgefield Playhouse Thursday, September 20th with trusted members of his groundbreaking a cappella group Voicestra. They are all masters of the art of play, and together they will lead Circlesongs, choral pieces based on irresistible grooves, spontaneously composed each night and sung by a 12-voice ensemble of local singers - and so...
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  • Bobby McFerrin gives phenomenal performance at Montreal Jazz Festival / Live in Limbo
    Posted At: August 1, 2018 12:00 AM

    Bobby McFerrin gave a phenomenal performance during the 39th annual Montréal Jazz Festival at the Maison symphonique de Montréal on July 7, 2018. Along with David Worm, Joey Blake and the Jireh Gospel Choir, McFerrin lead the group using only their symphony of voices. McFerrin, known for his unique vocal techniques such as scat singing and alternating harmonies, was a veteran to th...
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  • Returning to Minnesota, Bobby McFerrin gives first interview in 4 years / Minneapolis Star Tribune
    Posted At: June 12, 2018 12:00 AM

    Bobby McFerrin, vocalist extraordinaire, has a philosophy for his all-improvisational concerts: "We enter the stage empty, but we exit full." The same could be said for his interviews. Calling last week from his home in Philadelphia, McFerrin agreed to a chat before his rare four-night stand this week at the Dakota, a return to the Twin Cities, where he lived from 1994-2001 when he served as creative cha...
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  • Bobby McFerrin and Voicestra set for Circlesongs at dakota / MPR
    Posted At: June 11, 2018 12:00 AM

    Bobby McFerrin: Circlesongs will take you on a life-changing musical adventure. Bobby's exhilarating vocal vocabulary - call and response, global rhythms, soaring melodies, lush harmonies, funny noises, invented language, silence, prayers, and laughter – reminds us all of how much fun it is to be alive, to lift our voices and communicate with one another, to make a joyful noise. Bobby will take...
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  • Bobby McFerrin set to play Bucharest's Sala Palatului / Romania-Insider
    Posted At: March 28, 2018 12:00 AM

    American musician Bobby McFerrin, the winner of ten Grammy awards, will perform at Sala Palatului in Bucharest on May 19. The concert in Romania is part of the Circlesongs tour. Born into a family of opera musicians, Bobby McFerrin is one of the world's most famous solo improvisers, a renowned classical music conductor, the creator of the famous song Don't Worry Be Happy, but also a passionate of mus...
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  • Madison McFerrin, from the WBGO performance studio on; 'The Checkout'
    Posted At: February 28, 2018 12:00 AM

    Jazz has a handful of reigning families - the Clayton, Marsalis, and Eubanks clans among them - but until recently you'd be forgiven for overlooking the McFerrins. The emergence of Madison McFerrin, an inspired singer-songwriter from Brooklyn, underscores the talent in this new musical dynasty. McFerrin is the daughter of vocal luminary Bobby McFerrin, and the sister of two talented siblings, the...
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  • Quincy Jones' new qwestTV will offer curated lineup of jazz concerts, documentaries and interviews / RollingStone
    Posted At: December 8, 2017 12:00 AM

    Quincy Jones' new subscription video-on-demand platform dedicated entirely to jazz will launch December 15th. Qwest TV will offer a curated lineup of over 100 "concerts, documentaries, interviews and archives of premium jazz and related eclectic music original content." The initial line-up boasts films featuring Aretha Franklin, Anderson .Paak, B.B. King, Robert Glasper, Sun Ra, Bobby McFerrin, ...
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  • Bobby McFerrin sings Vivaldi's Concerto for two cellos / CLASSIC fM
    Posted At: February 23, 2017 12:00 AM

    The clue is in the title - Vivaldi's Concerto for Two Cellos in G minor was undoubtedly composed for two cellos. However, the innovative vocalist Bobby McFerrin is known for not always doing things by the book. During the Spirits of Music open air festival in the grand Marktplatz in Leipzig, Germany in 2002, Bobby McFerrin sang one of the two cello parts in Vivaldi's Concerto for two cellos in g ...
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  • Bobby McFerrin and son Taylor perform rare concert together at Cal State Northridge / KPCC Radio
    Posted At: February 9, 2016 12:00 AM

    Bobby McFerrin has had a long and successful career as a singer of wordless songs. With his trademark vocalizing that provides both rhythm and melody, he's carved out a singular place for himself in jazz and pop music. McFerrin's oldest son, Taylor, is also a musician. He's a keyboardist and producer whose full-length debut album, "Early Riser," was released on the Brainfeeder label. That's the L.A.-base...
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  • WEAA - Radio Baltimore rebroadcasts Bobby McFerrin on NPR's Song Travels
    Posted At: August 21, 2015 12:00 AM

    Vocalist Bobby McFerrin is best known for his 1988 hit "Don't Worry Be Happy," which was the first a cappella song to reach No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100; it won three Grammy Awards, including Song Of The Year. McFerrin also has five Grammy wins for Best Male Jazz Vocal, and has toured a concert version of George Gershwin's Porgy And Bess. On this episode of Song Travels, McFerrin joins host...
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  • Bobby McFerrin and Chick Corea play Jerusalem's Zappa Shuni Amphitheater / Jerusalem Post review
    Posted At: July 23, 2015 12:00 AM

    Bobby McFerrin and Chick Corea are each masters musicians in their own right. McFerrin, as a vocalist and conductor, is renowned for his extraordinary vocal control and unique technique. He is perhaps best known for his 1988 hit song "Don't Worry, Be Happy". Pianist Chick Corea (Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea) is one of the forefathers of the electric jazz fusion movement, and many of his compositions are...
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  • Bobby Mcferrin joins A Capella quartet, Cadence@Toronto's Roy Thomson Hall / LiveinLimbo
    Posted At: June 3, 2015 12:00 AM

    Roy Thomson Hall, the home to Toronto Symphony Orchestra, has seen many great legends and talents performing on it's stellar stage. On Saturday, it hosted Bobby Mcferrin, the man whose instrument is his voice and that's all he's ever needed. From his 1988 hit song "Don't worry, Be Happy" to his ten Grammy Awards and collaborations with the likes of Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, and Yo-Yo Ma, Bobby Mcferri...
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  • Bobby McFerrin coming to Green Music Center / Santa Rosa Press Democrat Q&A
    Posted At: April 10, 2015 12:00 AM

    Bobby McFerrin done everything for interpreted Beatles songs, to classical and roots music, to collaborations with performers ranging from Yo-Yo Ma to Robin Williams. The son of opera baritone Robert McFerrin, the first African American man to sing with New York's Metropolitan Opera, the younger McFerrin can create so many vocal parts simultaneously that he becomes a one-man band, with no instrument othe...
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  • Bobby McFerrin to thrill Istanbul
    Posted At: March 2, 2015 12:00 AM

    10-time Grammy winner Bobby McFerrin is set to play the Cemal Reşit Rey Concert (CRR) Hall this week, as part of his Spirityouall tour,  McFerrin has redefined the role of the human voice. On Spirityouall, released in 2013 on Sony Masterworks, he uses recording field recording sound with African-American rhythms to create this melting pot. of folk tradition. SEE THE Daily Sabah PA...
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  • Bobby McFerrin: Rule Breaker / Today Online
    Posted At: February 27, 2015 12:00 AM

    Anybody who has seen or heard Bobby McFerrin's performances - even if it's just from watching a YouTube video - will not forget just how wonderfully comfortable the legendary performer appears to be on stage. Often clad just in jeans and baggy shirts, the 10-time Grammy winner has spent decades wowing audiences with his vocal talent. The 64-year-old, who is best known for his 1988 a cappella hit, Don...
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  • Bobby McFerrin dazzles at Brooklyn College / Examiner.com concert review
    Posted At: November 2, 2014 12:00 AM

    On the evening of Nov 1, Bobby McFerrin met a group of extraordinarily talented African musicians a couple of hours before they were due to perform a show together at The Brooklyn Center for The Performing Arts. They spent that time getting to know one another musically in preparation for "Bobby Meets Africa in New York," where these musicians (originally from Mali, Guinea and Benin) would perform an imp...
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  • Bobby McFerrin - Spirityouall / iRock Jazz interview
    Posted At: August 6, 2014 12:00 AM

    Every once in a while, an artist comes along who is so phenomenally talented that it almost seems unfair to every other artist.  For me, one such person is Bobby McFerrin.  I remember listening to "Peace," sung by McFerrin and written by the incomparable Horace Silver, and being moved beyond words by the beauty of the song. And now, some 30 years later, after reading the news about wars, kidnap...
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  • Bobby McFerrin plays TD Toronto Jazz Festival / The Scene review
    Posted At: June 28, 2014 12:00 AM

    Bobby McFerrin's set at the 2014 TD Toronto Jazz festival, backed by his daughter and an all star band was nothing short of incredible.   The ten time Grammy Award winner held the crowd in awe for the better part of 90 minutes, pulling out one surprise after another.  The set started off with a solo piece that had the band slowly coming in, followed by an impromptu Country jam in which McF...
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  • Bobby McFerrin@Winspear / Edmonton Journal review
    Posted At: June 25, 2014 12:00 AM

    Bobby McFerrin has been opening up his soul to Edmonton audiences for over 30 years. Tuesday at the Winspear it was apparent that the singer continues to live and breathe music, and that his gift for spontaneous invention still thrives even when he's working in an ensemble groove. Over a 100-minute show that was part jazz concert, part folk revue and part campfire singalong with intermittent bursts o...
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  • Bobby McFerrin & daughter light up stellar TD Jazz Festival opening weekend
    Posted At: June 24, 2014 12:00 AM

    If singer Bobby McFerrin wanted to start a cult, he'd have no problem making Vancouver a home base. The buzz among the paying customers Sunday at the Orpheum was palpable before he'd sung a single note, and people screamed their support after every song. The dreadlocked singer, backed by a versatile quintet of musicians, as well as his daughter, Madison McFerrin, on vocals, delivered a two-hour concert a...
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  • Bobby McFerrin's worldess serenade to Mozart on WQXR: All Ears
    Posted At: April 11, 2014 12:00 AM

    The term "wordy" most often has a negative connotation. It's true that sometimes words do get in the way. But in music, it's not an all-or-nothing proposition. This week on All Ears, host Terrance McKnight blends the spoken with the unspoken and the old with the not so old, and features a wordless serenade to Mozart by Bobby McFerrin. The show will also play choral music by Da...
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  • Bobby McFerrin - The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon!
    Posted At: March 6, 2014 12:00 AM

    Bobby McFerrin wowed The Tonight Show audience last night with a performance of "Drive My Car" from his 1988 Simple Pleasures LP. He took the stage to perform his version of The Beatles‘ classic with a little help from The Roots. McFerrin's performance last night follows the 2013 release of his Spirityouall LP, which finds the legendary vocalist tackling negro spirituals. Bringing his incomparable ...
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  • Bobby McFerrin gets 2014 GRAMMY Nomination for 'spirityouall'
    Posted At: December 7, 2013 12:00 AM

    Congratulations to Crossover Media Artist: Bobby McFerrin on his 2014 GRAMMY Nomination for: 'spirityouall' on Sony Masterworks, in the Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist category. The 56th Annual GRAMMY Awards will air Sunday, Jan. 26, 2014, on CBS....
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  • Bobby McFerrin presents: spirityouall' TONIGHT@Davies Symphony Hall
    Posted At: September 23, 2013 12:00 AM

    Vocalist Bobby McFerrin presents "spirityouall," TONIGHT!!!, Monday September 23@Davies Symphony Hall, 201 Van Ness Ave., S.F. Bobby McFerrin and his band re-imagine roots music in the American tradition. The vocalist demonstrates grace, wisdom, and freedom in this music while always embracing the never-ending exploration of the human voice and improvisational approach. ...
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  • Bobby McFerrin plays Monterey Jazz Festival TONIGHT!!
    Posted At: September 21, 2013 12:00 AM

    For decades Bobby McFerrin has broken all the rules. The 10-time Grammy winner has blurred the distinction between pop music and fine art, goofing around barefoot in the world's finest concert halls, exploring uncharted vocal territory, inspiring a whole new generation of a cappella singers and the beatbox movement. His latest album, spirityouall, is a bluesy, feel-good recording, an u...
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  • Bobby McFerrin releases: VOCAbuLarieS
    Posted At: August 26, 2013 12:00 AM

    VOCAbuLarieS is Bobby McFerrin music for the 21st century. It is unlike anything the 10-time Grammy-winner has ever recorded. An ambitious project several years in the making, it draws from the array of influences that have long contributed to McFerrin's innovative style - classical to world music, R&B to gospel and beyond - and recasts the world-renowned singer in a new framework ...
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