Vocabularies (stylized as VOCAbuLarieS) is a studio album by American jazz vocalist Bobby McFerrin that was recorded with composer Roger Treece and released on April 6, 2010 by EmArcy in the United States. Described on McFerrin's website as "music for the 21st century", the album took seven years to make with over 1,400 vocal tracks recorded by over 50 singers in order to form a "virtual choir".
The album received critical acclaim from critics for its ambition and musical complexity.
Track listing
Critical response
Vocabularies received critical acclaim from critics. Thom Jurek of AllMusic gave the album four and a half out of five stars, writing that it is "easily McFerrin’s finest moment on record as well as his most ambitious, and should win him some new fans even among cynics." Mark F. Turner of All About Jazz gave the album five out of five stars, stating that it is McFerrin's "most challenging release to date" for his attempt to collaborate with 50 singers over seven years to create a virtual choir, with every song "defined by their playfulness and infectious rhythms, as well as their unique vocalizations and interplay." Ryan Reed of PopMatters gave a highly positive review of the album, considering it to be McFerrin's first album to "have truly captured the full scope and spirit of McFerrin's abilities and eclecticism", writing further that it is "a testament to both McFerrin's long-underrated abilities, and the sheer expansiveness and possibilities of the human voice.
John Eyles of the BBC emphasized that Vocabularies is not only Mcferrin's most ambitious project, "it is also one of the most complex albums ever constructed", and that "[t]he end result has that wow factor which signals an instant classic". Allan McFarlane of AudioEnz (StereoNET Australia) gave high praises for the album's "startling[ly]" unique arrangements and meticulous construction, writing that it is "as ambitious as it is successful, bringing three decades of experience and often experimental music making to this culmination of a lifetime[']s artistic endeavour."