McFerrin a virtuoso improviser

Trying to describe a Bobby McFerrin performance recalls the fable of the five blind men’s dissimilar definitions of an elephant.

McFerrin’s a singer, yes, and a songwriter. His Grammy-winning “Don’t Worry Be Happy” was the upbeat hit of 1988. But he’s also a respected classical orchestra conductor and the leader, for a while, of his vocal ensemble, the Voicestra.

When he walks on stage for one of his solo appearances, he is also a humorist, an actor, a jazz improviser and a choirmaster. And even that list doesn’t fully embrace what this astonishingly gifted artist had to offer at the Cerritos Center on Friday.

McFerrin opened the evening with a brisk, gently swinging improvisation on a riff. Tapping on his chest to produce a backbeat, he launched into a sequence of spontaneous musical ideas stretching for nearly 15 minutes.

Filled with dynamic changes of pace, it was a brilliant display of his capacity to employ stunning vocal virtuosity at the service of utterly engaging musical entertainment. And that, in effect, was the theme of concert.

One of the high points was a performance of the Bach/Gounod “Ave Maria,” in which McFerrin asked the audience to sing Gounod’s familiar melody while he maneuvered vocally through the flowing arpeggios of Bach’s Prelude No. 1 from the “Well-Tempered Clavier.”

Similarly, using a vastly different piece, he sang Lennon and McCartney’s “Blackbird,” subtly implying both the melody and the underlining harmonies. And with “Over the Rainbow,” he framed the soaring melody with precisely the right bass and accompaniment notes to suggest subtle chordal alterations in the familiar tune.

Continuing to bring his listeners into the music, McFerrin asked for singers to join him on stage, organized them into groups of sopranos, altos, tenors and basses, gave each a fragment of melody and conducted them through a spontaneous performance. Calling for dancers from the audience, he was joined by three women, who turned and twisted and shimmied to his provocative vocal improvising.

McFerrin also led listeners through a bebop sing-along in “Scrapple From the Apple,” sang children’s tunes, and strolled through the room to engage individuals. His closing number, a wildly high-spirited “The Wizard of Oz,” was an apt climax for an evening of true musical wizardry.