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I'd actually been making my living as an organist with bands since I was probably 15 or 16 years old, and then as a senior in high school I put together a jazz quintet called The Bobby Mack Jazz Quintet.

Bobby McFerrin

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Bobby McFerrin
Age: 74
Born: 1950
Born: March 11
Beatboxer
Conductor
Jazz Musician
Recording Artist
Singer
Songwriter
Vocalist
Manhattan borough
New York City
Robert Keith McFerrin Jr.
Robert Keith McFerrin
Jr.
Robert McFerrin
Jr.
Since
Mack
High
Bobby
Actually
Senior
Making
Bands
Living
Jazz
School
Band
Together
Probably
Years
Called

More quotes by Bobby McFerrin

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Musicians are the architects of heaven.
Bobby McFerrin
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I don't want anything to get in the way of me and my singing. I want my mind as clear as possible.
Bobby McFerrin
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I did the one concert, and I was not bitten by the conducting bug, and I thought I was done, but then the phone started to ring, and gradually, over time, I started conducting more and more. Now a third of my performances are with orchestras.
Bobby McFerrin
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Miles Davis turned his back to the audience when he came out on stage, and he offended people. But, he wasn't there to entertain he was all about the music. I kind of do that.
Bobby McFerrin
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Whenever I'm onstage, I try my best not to think that I'm performing. It's simply another part of my day.
Bobby McFerrin
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Music is still part of my spiritual life. Sometimes I sing my prayers. When I get audiences singing, I hope I'm helping them feel connected to something beyond themselves.
Bobby McFerrin
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I have a lot of albums yet to do.
Bobby McFerrin
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Improvisation is the courage to move from one note to the next.
Bobby McFerrin
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I think we listen to music because we want to be changed. Music is not solely for our entertainment. Music has such tremendous power to bring joy. To me, that's our job as artists. Not happiness, not a groove, whatever. You must bring joy. I think that's the assignment. I have no doubt about it.
Bobby McFerrin
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Then I came up with this crazy idea just to walk out on the stage with no band at all and just start singing whatever came to mind. I actually fought the idea for a while because it seemed almost too radical, but it became obvious what I was supposed to be doing.
Bobby McFerrin
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I grew up in a time when being a musician and learning to be a musician was actually very wonderful.
Bobby McFerrin
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In every life we have some trouble, but when you worry you make it double. Don't worry. Be happy.
Bobby McFerrin
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I use the audience as my color palette, my instrument.
Bobby McFerrin
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Inviting audiences to open up and hear things differently is an important part of what I do. But I still love to sing songs with words, too.
Bobby McFerrin
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Here's a little song I wrote. You might want to sing it note for note. Don't worry, be happy.
Bobby McFerrin
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If I stand there, appreciating the world around me as full of amazing sounds and the possibility of new ones, I think that invites other people to see the world that way, too. I love sharing the experience of singing with people, and I love sharing my stories. But when it comes to teaching, I have a lot of help.
Bobby McFerrin
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But, if there's any aspect of my career that needs attention, it's writing.
Bobby McFerrin
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I do a lot of performing, but don't get a chance to go to the studio and write good music.
Bobby McFerrin
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I try not to perform. I try to come on stage and be myself, to sing the way I would in a room by myself, to interact with the audience the way I would relate to them if we were in my kitchen drinking tea and making up silly songs. Maybe the way to get past the fear of being ourselves is simply to try it more often.
Bobby McFerrin
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The true musician is to bring light into people's hearts.
Bobby McFerrin