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Artist: Bobby McFerrin
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Bobby McFerrin:

VOCAbuLarieS

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 defined by dense compositional detail, rich textures and complex arrangements. VOCAbuLarieS builds upon McFerrin's past explorations and journeys into expansive territory. The CD will be in stores April 6th on Decca.

Bobby McFerrin:

spirityouall

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.