Bobby McFerrin "Encore From Tokyo" at Montreux Jazz Festival (1984)

[AndrewMeronek]

One of the many phenomenal live recordings we have been gifted by Bobby McFerrin.



What strikes me about Bobby is his breathing. The dude is a world-class breathing athlete. Starting with just starting the tune, doing that exaggerated breath like he's getting ready to do a deep dive in a lake.

[harrisonreed]

Yeah, there's somebody with their own voice. And a genius

[AndrewMeronek]

Yeah, there's somebody with their own voice. And a genius

Yeah, for sure!

That breathing he did actually gives me some ideas to play with in my own tromboning. With specialized applications, of course. I am a huge fan of relaxed breathing and only breathing what I actually need. But for some tunes (for example, the ever-so-popular-but-rarely-performed-well I'm Getting Sentimental Over You) some extra oomph with the breathing prep could make it easier to do some of the extended phrasing that would benefit that tune.

[AndrewMeronek]

BTW, I don't recognize offhand the close-up shots in that video of people marvelling, except for one: Herbie Hancock.