McFerrin Makes an Eclectic, Electric Audience Connection

Audiences love Bobby McFerrin. People leaped at the chance to sing along with him Friday at the first of two concerts over the weekend at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts.

One woman breathed, “Angels!” upon hearing the unearthly sounds he got the audience to produce.

McFerrin was appearing as conductor and singer of 1,000 voices with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra in a program of music by Mendelssohn and Faure--and others as filtered through McFerrin’s inimitable vocalism.

He joked and talked with the audience during a solo sequence after some scat singing to jazz riffs by bassist Christopher Brown.

McFerrin went on to make (miked) vocal clicks and pops, tap his feet, slap his chest and range through a number of sound effects.

Suddenly he was singing a somber but tongue-in-cheek ballad version of the theme for “The Beverly Hillbillies” (with audience participation). Then he was presenting the complete “Wizard of Oz” in 15 minutes, taking all the acting, singing and orchestra parts, and taking them persuasively.

He had begun showing off his vocal ability by wordlessly singing the choral part in Faure’s “Pavane,” using a pure and plaintive voice that turned into falsetto only in the final ascent.

But that is not his only voice. He showed in the solo sequence he can also sing baritone and tenor and evoke instruments ranging from a plucked bass to a muted trumpet.

As for the rest of the classical music, McFerrin proved a serious, thoughtful but limited conductor.

*

Working from memory and without a baton, McFerrin opened the program with the Intermezzo, Nocturne and Scherzo from the music Mendelssohn wrote for “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and closed it with Mendelssohn’s youthful “Italian” Symphony.

Both pieces showed his enthusiasm but also a tendency toward rocking-horse phrasing, attention to detail at the expense of line, limited exploration of dynamics and few interpretive subtleties.

The orchestra played crisply and responsively and demonstrated that McFerrin has a marvelous ensemble on which to hone his conducting skills.