Yesterday was a really fun day in the studio! I had decided that on one song in particular, an accordion would add a beautiful ambiance, a little bit of sparkle, to an already great arrangement that Gerry Grosz wrote for me. The song has a tango or rhumba feel to it, and I sing the last half of the song in Italian.

So, I hired Steve Albini, and really great accordion player (and an even greater singer!) to come in and add a little spumoni to the song…and it sounds so cool, I LOVE it!

It was a very interesting process, as Steve has such a different (and lovely) sense of melody/harmony than I do. And working with another chordal instrument was challenge, since I’ve already got piano, guitar and vibes providing the harmonic/chordal structure underneath the songs. So - how to add accordion without making everything sound muddy?

Luckily, it was really easy, with Steve! We did several tracks, and I sang the parts that I wanted him to play. He did a great job, but it wasn’t quite what I was looking for.

I decided to open the bottle of Italian red wine he had brought to the session (my kinda guy!) and we took a little break, enjoying the excellent bouquet and flavor of the wine and talking about Music, Life, Kids, and I also reminisced about my days singing at the Sons of Italy in upstate New York, oh soooooo long ago!

Anyway, that was enjoyable, but time to get back to work! I told Steve: “Now - just ignore everything I’ve told you to play, and play as if you’re on stage, in front of your own band, performing this song. Do whatever you want!!

Well, that was the ticket! He had incorporated my suggestions, but went with his own feelings, and of course, as usual, that worked beautifully. He did a great job, and he’s such a sweetie, too.

I’ve always wanted to add accordion, and now I have. Very soon I’ll begin posting some song samples so you can hear it!

I went to the Bobby McFerrin, Chick Corea, Jack DeJohnette concert last night at the Masonic Center in San Francisco. And even though I’m a long time Bobby fanatic, I was just blown away again by his performance, and by the synchronicity between these three consumate artists.

It was a wonderful evening of music.

Orrin Keepnews introduced Bobby, Chick Corea, and Jack DeJohnette by describing to the audience the conversation he had just had with the trio back stage. The guys apparently told Mr. Keepnews, when asked what their set was going to be, that they had no idea what they were going to play, nor did they really need to know. They would just get up there and do it.

And that is in fact what they did - and it was Jazz in the purest, most free and exhilarating form. As a singer, it is especially gratifying to see that it was a VOCALIST who led the way for the improvisational paths the three musicians took together. An aside here: Bobby McFerrin elevates all Jazz singers by demonstrating his impeccable musical chops in terms of melodic improvisation over an implied harmonic structure. What I mean is, even with the incredible Chic Corea on piano, Bobby is way ahead of everyone (the audience and his fellow musicians) conceptually, harmonically, melodically; Chick and Jack would follow and give back, tossing the ball back and forth and underhanded and then they were all three off to the races. It was exhilarating!  Instrumentalists who really don’t consider Vocalists as Musicians really need to take a lesson from Bobby McFerrin. The guy is amazingly inventive.

ANYWAY, I don’t have the words, nor the desire, to write a review. So, I’m just going to list as many of the images, dreams and scenarios that came into my mind last night during the non-stop set (it was about 80 minutes long):

the call to prayer at a Tibetan monastery
monks marching up stairs to the temple
thousands of bird wings fluttering,
tree leaves rustling in the wind
rain…droplets falling in the rain-forest…then, a downpour
monkeys chattering, exotic birds clicking dancing pattering over the wet ground
a snake slithering
an intake of breath, surprise, again and again
tribal drums, a call to the village to gather round
keening crying prayer; joyful hopeful prayer
a young rapper showing off and looking silly
joined by an equally silly looking and sounding friend
a group of young rappers arguing in the street
two old Jews talking at each other, then yelling at each other, gesturing….then coming to an understanding
the blond lead “singer’ with the group, “Up With People” channeling Pat Sajack
a galaxy, the Milky Way, we float on by the stars in the deep of night
a television screen, static, black and white images fly by
a multitude of voices and chatter as we switch from channel to channel
clouds, wind, shadows on the hillside

Throughout the dreamlike set, Chick Corea and Jack DeJohnetter were amazing in their support and then expansion upon Bobby’s set-up vocal lines. The interplay between the three of them fed the initial theme introduced by Bobby, transforming it, turning it over and over, inverting it, tossing it around and to each other…to build a ’song’ with an intro, a build-up, a climax, an outro. So beautiful to hear the structure while enjoying the images and feelings of the notes and chords and beats…

There was so much more! But the images are gone now. I’m left with the feeling of wonder at Bobby McFerrin’s amazing ability to evoke so many images and feelings with just his voice…no lyrics, nothing defined for the listener. Like the greatest paintings, touching on a universal truth without any apparent effort at all.

Like I said: Bobby McFerrin is a genius!