Bobby McFerrin

I’ve just come back from hearing Bobby McFerrin perform at the Barbican, along with the London Vocal Project.

The concert was wonderful. Bobby McFerrin was in fine form, and although the performance was in some ways his usual “bag of tricks” (I had seen several portions of it before on YouTube and so on), that bag of tricks is simply astounding. The improvised numbers were, of course, fantastic.
The choir — the London Vocal Project — was technically excellent and understandably enthusiastic. I found the music they sang much less varied and flexible than McFerrin’s solo numbers; the harmony and melody were somewhat less engaging, though the rhythmic complexity was quite good. I wonder what they can do in a wider range of genres and idioms.
The best thing, of course, is that I have come away full of ideas and enthusiasm for my own playing and writing. Whee!