Jazz Song Review: Kalimba Suite by Bobby McFerrin [5/5]
12 Mar 2008 10:50 PM / Filed in: Music
[Jazz] Kalimba Suite by Bobby McFerrin
From the album Beyond Words.
Bobby McFerrin is one of my favorite artists. I highly regard his amazing voice and incredible musicality. He is a frequent guest of my iPod playlists and I often listen to his records when I need to relax, be it for sleep, for work or just for kicks. Circlesongs, released in 1997, is so far my favorite album. But I have a feeling that Beyond Words -released in 2002 and the subject of this post- might replace it.
Two weeks ago, I had a cursory glance at some online music news (which I have a hard time recollecting what kind of site it was) when I saw Bobby's name cited. So I decided to have a look at Amazon.fr and see if I can find an El Cheapo (as in price, not as in Music of course) record of the Man that I don't own. That's how I first heard about Beyond Words and also that one of the guests invited by Bobby McFerrin was Richard Bona, an amazing African bassist with a very nice voice of his own. As for the El Cheapo condition, I ordered it through Market Place (from Import CD Specialist if you care, they have top service and I ordered quite numerous times from them with no troubles so far).
When I got back from work today, the CD was waiting for me in the mailbox. After minding the kids, getting dinner and helping my dear half with housework, I ripped the CD, put on my headphones and hit the Play button. In a instant, I was travelling to Music land. I looped through the whole record once and on the second iteration, I realized how Kalimba Suite stands out. It's like being in a wonderful garden full of amazing flowers and when you go through the whole thing your preattentive processing kicks in and you realize that one particular flower stands out.
Kalimba Suite is truly exceptional. Mind you, it's a 2-in-1 song. Around 2 minutes of playing this 3:40 song, the tone changes and a synthetizer kicks in (which somehow reminded me of Tom Grant's 1990 record Edge Of The World) with a weird reverb effect. Surprising at first, it just flows nicely afterwards without really breaking the magic initiated by the first 2 minutes. And just to add to the joy I felt, the bassist is of course Mr. Bona!
Beyond Words is a very nice record that you can get with your eyes closed (and listen to with eyes closed as well to maximize the happiness).
I truly thank you Bobby for your excellent Music. Keep up the excellent job!
Meta information:
From the album Beyond Words.
Bobby McFerrin is one of my favorite artists. I highly regard his amazing voice and incredible musicality. He is a frequent guest of my iPod playlists and I often listen to his records when I need to relax, be it for sleep, for work or just for kicks. Circlesongs, released in 1997, is so far my favorite album. But I have a feeling that Beyond Words -released in 2002 and the subject of this post- might replace it.
Two weeks ago, I had a cursory glance at some online music news (which I have a hard time recollecting what kind of site it was) when I saw Bobby's name cited. So I decided to have a look at Amazon.fr and see if I can find an El Cheapo (as in price, not as in Music of course) record of the Man that I don't own. That's how I first heard about Beyond Words and also that one of the guests invited by Bobby McFerrin was Richard Bona, an amazing African bassist with a very nice voice of his own. As for the El Cheapo condition, I ordered it through Market Place (from Import CD Specialist if you care, they have top service and I ordered quite numerous times from them with no troubles so far).
When I got back from work today, the CD was waiting for me in the mailbox. After minding the kids, getting dinner and helping my dear half with housework, I ripped the CD, put on my headphones and hit the Play button. In a instant, I was travelling to Music land. I looped through the whole record once and on the second iteration, I realized how Kalimba Suite stands out. It's like being in a wonderful garden full of amazing flowers and when you go through the whole thing your preattentive processing kicks in and you realize that one particular flower stands out.
Kalimba Suite is truly exceptional. Mind you, it's a 2-in-1 song. Around 2 minutes of playing this 3:40 song, the tone changes and a synthetizer kicks in (which somehow reminded me of Tom Grant's 1990 record Edge Of The World) with a weird reverb effect. Surprising at first, it just flows nicely afterwards without really breaking the magic initiated by the first 2 minutes. And just to add to the joy I felt, the bassist is of course Mr. Bona!
Beyond Words is a very nice record that you can get with your eyes closed (and listen to with eyes closed as well to maximize the happiness).
I truly thank you Bobby for your excellent Music. Keep up the excellent job!
Meta information:
- Rating: 5/5
- Label: Blue Note
- Release year: 2002
- Related Artists: None, absolutely None!
- Bobby McFerrin's official website
- Listen to Kalimba Suite (full-length, not so bad quality) on Deezer
- An awesome improvisation featuring Bobby McFerrin and Richard Bona from your friendly YouTube