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   Impressions Of Michael Bublé

I first heard his voice at 6.40 pm one evening on Radio Stella, the local station broadcasting from within a mile where I live in Modena.  It grabbed my attention because my husband and I looked at each other across the kitchen table and simultaneously asked “Mark Murphy?”

Having heard the melody  Sway with me several times as background to an Italian advert and broadcast on air without ever a name credited, the voice was taking centre-stage in my household. The reason was simple and odd: this song was broadcast at precisely the same time over the next three evenings. It was felt like some sign from the Gods to find out who this guy was…Then, as if by the wave of some mysterious wand, they decided to say his name…which only added to the confusion.

Bublé pronounced by an Italian in Modenese dialect was not much help. Having watched Robbie Williams croon with Frank, Dean and Sammy, with such divine musical devotion to his heroes, in his spectacular Royal Albert hall performance, I couldn't help but wonder what Michael Bublé could possibly have to add to this unique kind of dedication.

The website was sought, the DC purchased and listening to the velvet sonority of Bublé’s voice, as one melody rolled over to the next, was like being cast back in time to when soft summer nights and lazy love affairs were genuinely fragranced in romantic innocence. But there is an undeniable richly musky, resonant sensuality to Bublé’s vocal timbre that stops me from any serious comparison to Robbie Williams or Harry Connick, Jr.

As chance played out, he was touring Italy this summer and so, combined with a trip to Carrara, the home of Michelangelo’s marble, we set of down to Lucca to see Bublé perform.

It was a smallish audience by outdoor concert standards, but it proved to be a thoroughly dedicated audience who patiently waited for hours before he appeared.

The opening number intro to Michael Bublé’s entrance is set by a magnetic group of some of the finest young brass musicians I have heard in years. They might as well be called “my group of 8” as Bublé affectionately refers to them during the performance. The camaraderie amongst them is infectious, at times creating the feeling, one was watching a bunch of high school chums, churning out the vibe of the newly found star roller coaster ride in mischievous good fun. It has to be said, and this article was to be their feature, but as is the way with chasing down interviews with even rising stars, it does not always pan out, that the musicians themselves deserve individual moments in the spotlight. Their talent is noteworthy and as an ensemble offer amongst the best renditions of old classic songs to be had anywhere today. Tight, technically superb, with a musical range of style that is truly impressive for youngsters barely hitting their mid-twenties, I think they were looking forward as much to being interviewed as I enjoyed the idea of finding out more about each of them and their enthusiasm for the attention fresh, spontaneous and still innocent in their thrill of newfound fame.

Michael Bublé when I spoke to him after the concert, was extremely approachable, attentive, focused and seemingly unaffected by the maze of adulating teenage girls vying for his eye and autograph and jostling bodyguards around him. Dressed much like the your neighbourhood kid,  right down in jeans t-shirt and reversed baseball cap, cutting an image far removed from the suave, smooth crooner of his stage persona.

Michael Bublé, imbues his interpretations with a genuine love, respect and admiration for the music, first and foremost. Kurt Weil’s Mac the Knife, originally from the German of Threepenny Opera, is distilled from Bobby Darrin’s version, from which, most likely Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin derived theirs. Raised on the love of old fashioned music thanks to his grandfather, Michael Bublé (French-sounding but in truth Italian (Boo-blay), sweeps one off one’s feet with his homage to Sinatra, Darrin, Presley, Anka,  and the  BeeGees. He is a talented, albeit still somewhat diamond-in-the-rough performer on stage, not always at ease and not someone performing a strictly choreographed show from start to finish.

Winning the hearts of his heavily mixed-age audience, was a piece of cake: a simple message to Mom and Dad via the live Canadian radio broadcast link and the odd Italian operatic imitation had us all in the palm of his hand. He cynched it with an hilarious series of impressions of George Michael melodies lifted from performances and video clips. Lucca could not get enough: he stopped the show and did an impromptu photo shoot amidst the audience (see boxing-pose) for fans who clicked away in seventh heaven.

His rapport with the audience is natural and Bublé is enough of an intuitive performer to drawn on this emotional connection to create a stunning evening's entertainment. Sentiment, is as large a canvas as is swoon and old fashioned flirtation. Michael Bublé nailed the lot.

It doesn't get better than this… it can't! It daren’t when you know he is only twenty-five!

As for the interview proper, maybe next time….

Weblink:  http://www.michaelbuble.com

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