The Voice (album)

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The Voice
Live album by Bobby McFerrin

Publication
(s)

1984

Label (s) Elektra / Musician

Format (s)

LP / CD

Genre (s)

jazz

Title (number)

10

running time

43:12

occupation Bobby McFerrin

production

Linda Goldstein

chronology
Bobby McFerrin
(1982) 		The Voice Spontaneous Inventions
(1985)

The Voice is a solo album by the singer Bobby McFerrin . The album is considered a milestone in the history of jazz . It is a singer's first jazz album without any further accompaniment or without any technical doubling of his voice at all.

The album

In contrast to the singer's debut album, a conventional studio production with an accompanying band, his second album The Voice was created during a series of solo concerts that McFerrin played from March 17 to 26, 1984 in Germany.

In terms of style, McFerrin followed up on predecessors such as Jon Hendricks in order to “emancipate the human voice from the context of the accompanying instruments”. He was both “governor and innovator of a wide-ranging tradition.” He interpreted his voice as physically arrested, used circular breathing as well as blows to the larynx or chest and extremely rapid jumps in register. "Once unwanted background noises such as breathing, clicking, bubbling became structured, coloring means of expression." McFerrin tied to the personal styles of the original song interpreters, whom he cited and commented on in vocalises . In Blackbird, for example, he sings the Beatles' aesthetic arpeggio-like with the technique of the baroque style brisé, both the guitar part and the vocal part, whistles, imitates the beating of the bird's wings and even imitates an echo device. In I Feel Good he satirizes the screams of James Brown in order to then take over the wind instruments and breaks from the original, which he continues in his improvisation. Another highlight of the album is , according to Rolling Stone , his original "I'm My Own Walkman". In A-Train he goes from Scat singing into a “fabulous parody” of Scattens.

Track list

  1. Blackbird ( John Lennon / Paul McCartney ) - 3:07
  2. The Jump - 4:48
  3. El Brujo - 4:11
  4. I Feel Good ( James Brown ) - 3:19
  5. I'm My Own Walkman - 4:02
  6. Music Box - 3:56
  7. Medley: Donna Lee - Big Top - We're in the Money ( Charlie Parker , Al Dubin / Harry Warren ) - 7:22
  8. I'm Alone - 4:41
  9. TJ - 3:48
  10. A-Train ( Billy Strayhorn ) - 3:58

Unless otherwise stated, text and melody are from Bobby McFerrin.

reception

The Voice was perceived as a "sensation". Allmusic awarded the maximum number of five stars and recommended the album "without restrictions". The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide rates the album, like its predecessor, with four stars. Despite the virtuosity and wit, Robert Christgau feels that some passages are not musically outstanding: he knows more inspiring solos about Donna Lee.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Scott Yanow , album review for Allmusic
  2. ↑ See Bobby McFerrin's official website
  3. ↑ a b c Dombrowski Basis-Diskographie Jazz , p. 143ff.
  4. ↑ Detlev Reinert: Governor as well as innovator of a wide-ranging tradition Jazz Podium , 5/1984, p. 22
  5. ^ "I like to think of my voice as being my body. That's my equipment. ”Quoted from Michael Bourne Bobby McFerrin. The Voice . Down Beat 5/1985, pp. 20-22. Joachim Ernst Berendt said similarly : "With Bobby McFerrin, the whole body becomes an orchestra."
  6. ^ Charles Hartman: Jazz Text: Voice and Improvisation in Poetry, Jazz, and Song , p. 111f.
  7. ↑ Bobby McFerrin (Contemporary Musicians)  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.enotes.com  
  8. ^ Charles Hartman: Jazz Text: Voice and Improvisation in Poetry, Jazz, and Song , p. 113
  9. ^ John Swenson The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide 1985, p. 134