VOCAbuLarieS is Bobby McFerrin's studio album, released on April 6, 2010, eight years after the singer’s previous album, Beyond Words (2002).
| VOCAbuLarieS | ||||
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| Bobby McFerrin Studio Album | ||||
| Date of issue | April 6, 2010 | |||
| Genres | acapella , jazz vocals | |||
| Duration | 63:50 | |||
| Producer | Roger Tris | |||
| Label | Emarcy | |||
| Professional reviews | ||||
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| Timeline of Bobby McFerrin | ||||
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Content
About the album
VOCAbuLarieS includes several compositions consisting of overlaying many vocal parts with a minimum of instrumental accompaniment. In addition to McFerrin, more than 50 vocalists took part in the recording of the album. The producer and co-author of all the compositions was the singer and composer Roger Tris, a member of the Voicestra ensemble created by McFerrin.
Title
The name of the album in translation from English means “ dictionaries ”, while the capital letters are added to the word VOCALS, that is, “vocals, voices”. The album cover contains, in addition to the original name, its translation into different languages; in particular, the Russian translation looks like “ lexicons ”.
Reviews
Grigory Durnovo ( Sounds.ru ) [1] :
| Perhaps the pun contained in the English title would partly convey another version of the translation, “G (O) LOSSaria”. Because the main thing on this album is voices. ... here we seem to be present at the most complicated and exciting ancient rite, in which one of us will be involved in this. We guess some elements (there was just jazz , it’s funk , and now something oriental, and now African), we guess languages (somewhere, it seems, Russian is also heard, and somewhere, invented by Bobby himself ), but the whole is difficult to name. New music? Perhaps, but with awe and reverence turned to the world heritage. |
Alexander Belyaev [2] :
| The result - finally available - I want to describe in the most primitive terms: the music is pleasant, funny, positive, melodic and sincere. At first glance, the way it is, the album is simple, useful and beautiful, like a chicken egg: light, smooth, perfectly shaped, nutritious. But in fact (at a second glance) this is work with wildly sophisticated production, a real tower of Babel of the vocal genre. |
Vladimir Andryukha [3] :
| The disc contains exclusively virtuosic acapelles. Maximum vocals - minimum music. Although there is no need to talk about music at all, the consonance of voices presented here is above all virtuoso musical excesses. The music of the album is the voice. The voice and its capabilities in the performance of the entire world musical palette from classical to r'n'b . This album is nothing more than the ingenious experiment of Bobby McFerrin, his discovery on the way to a completely new musical genre. |
List of Songs
| No. | Title | The words | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| one. | "Baby" | McFerrin, Treece | 8:04 |
| 2. | "Say Ladeo" | McFerrin, Rosler, Treece | 8:44 |
| 3. | "Wailers" | McFerrin, Treece | 10:25 |
| four. | "Messages" | Rosler, Treece | 11:22 |
| five. | "The Garden" | McFerrin, Treece | 8:34 |
| 6. | "He Ran to the Train" | McFerrin, Treece | 10:29 |
| 7. | "Brief Eternity" | Rosler, Treece | 6:13 a.m. |
Record Members
- Bobby McFerrin - main vocals
- Roger Treece - vocals, percussion / synthesizer (1-6)
- Lisa Fischer - vocals
- Joey Blake - Vocals (1-6)
- Kim Nazarian - Vocals (1-6)
- Janis Siegel - vocals (1-3, 5, 6)
- LaTanya Hall - Vocals (1-6)
- Luciana Souza - Vocals (2-6)
- Albert Hera - Vocals (3-6)
- Lauren Kinhan - vocals (1, 3, 5, 6)
- Peter Eldridge - vocals (1, 4, 5, 7)
- Alexandra Montano - Vocals (2, 4, 7)
- Andrea Figallo - vocals (4, 6, 7)
- Darmon Meader - vocals (1, 2, 7)
- Darryl Tookes - vocals (3, 5, 6)
- Dave Worm - vocals (3, 5, 6)
- Katie Campbell - Vocals (1, 4, 7)
- Kristina Boerger - vocals (1, 4, 7)
- Amelia Watkins - Vocals (4, 7)
- Aubrey Johnson - Vocals (2, 4)
- David Root - vocals (4, 7)
- Everett Bradley - Vocals (3, 5)
- Fletcher Sheridan - vocals (4, 7)
- Gary Eckert - vocals (1, 2)
- Mark Johnson - Vocals (4, 7)
- Michele Eaton - Vocals (4, 7)
- Michelle Mailhot Vines - Vocals (4, 7)
- Pierre Cook - vocals (5, 6)
- Rhiannon - vocals (3, 5)
- Ryland Angel - vocals (4, 7)
- Sandra Anderson - Vocals (1, 7)
- Beth Quist - Vocals (1)
- Bonnie Denise Christensen - Vocals (2)
- Cole Davis - Vocals (7)
- Curtis King - Vocals (3)
- Daniel Abraham DeVeau - Vocals (7)
- Darren Percival - Vocals (2)
- Datevik Hovanesian - Vocals (3)
- David B. Whitworth - Vocals (3)
- Elizabeth Farnum - Vocals (4)
- Gayla Morgan - Vocals (4)
- Josephine Lee - Vocals (1)
- Judy Doneghy - Vocals (1)
- Kevin Osborne - Vocals (1)
- Lincoln Briney - Vocals (2)
- Marlon Saunders - Vocals (5)
- Michael Steinburger - Vocals (4)
- Michele Weir - Vocals (1)
- Richard Slade - Vocals (4)
- Rosana Eckert - Vocals (2)
- Sussan Deyhim - Vocals (3)
- Theo Bleckmann - Vocals (4)
- Thom Baker - Vocals (4)
- Alex Acuna - percussion (1-6)
- Donny McCaslin - Saxophone (4)
- Pedro Eustache - Wind Instruments (4)