The Phoenix Network:
 
 
About  |  Advertise
Adult  |  Moonsigns  |  Band Guide  |  Blogs  |  In Pictures
 
CD Reviews  |  Classical  |  Live Reviews  |  Music Features
TheBest2011-1000x50

Review: The David Wax Museum mesmerize Club Oberon

Not so statuesque
By JON GARELICK  |  February 9, 2011

dw 
FIESTA! The David Wax Museum created a 360-degree musical experience.

The Mexicano Americana folk band the David Wax Museum's album-release party for Everything Is Saved at Oberon February 3 was a triumph in every way: musically, theatrically, even socially and politically - from the fair-trade chocolate and coffee being given away in the lobby to the simulated village street festival the band conjured inside, replete with trapeze aerialist to complete the carnival atmosphere.

The Wax Museum are a duo, with the band's namesake writing songs, playing various Mexican guitars, and singing, and Suz Slezak singing and playing fiddle and donkey jawbone. But at Oberon, they brought together a 12-piece band including everyone from the new record and then some. So at any one time you could hear and see on stage multiple guitarists (acoustic and electric), acoustic-bassist, upright piano, two accordions, trumpet, sax, trombone, and sousaphone in various combinations.

The band pulled all this off with optimal theatrical flair, making use of the surrounding balconies — the brass group materialized halfway through the first number, "That's Not True," playing as they descended from a balcony and walked through the middle of the crowd. Perhaps the theatrical high point was a 360-degree musical experience halfway through the 90-minute set that began with a street-brass band number on one balcony, overlapped to vocals, guitars, and fiddle on another balcony, moved down to the floor for a bowed bass solo and an a cappella vocal, and concluded with the foot-stomping 6/8 original gospel number "Let Me Rest."

And, oh yeah, there was that aerialist, who performed on a trapeze as she was serenaded from the balcony by accordions and tambourine. You could call a folk-music show with a trapeze artist over the top, but in this case, it was just about perfect.

Related: The David Wax Museum and Tierney Sutton bridge tradition with the here and now, Looking for a reason to head to Belfast?, Play by play: May 14, 2010, More more >
  Topics: Live Reviews , political, David Wax Museum, David Wax Museum,  More more >
| More
Add Comment
HTML Prohibited

 Friends' Activity   Popular   Most Viewed 
[ 02/11 ]   "All You Need Is Love" Yoga  @ Art & Soul
[ 02/11 ]   "Barry Tattle's Valentine's Day Surprise"  @ Mottley's Comedy Club
[ 02/11 ]   Diplomats + Dipset  @ Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel
ARTICLES BY JON GARELICK
Share this entry with Delicious
  •   REVIEW: THE DAVID WAX MUSEUM MESMERIZE CLUB OBERON  |  February 09, 2011
    The Mexicano Americana folk band the David Wax Museum’s album-release party for Everything Is Saved at Oberon February 3 was a triumph in every way: musically, theatrically, even socially and politically.
  •   LIVE REVIEW: WAYNE SHORTER QUARTET AT BERKLEE  |  February 10, 2011
    Sometimes the Wayne Shorter Quartet's willingness to be open to process doesn't leave much of an impression in terms of final product. That was the case Tuesday night at the Berklee Performance Center, where the band were playing their first Boston gig since an October 2009 New England Conservatory concert. The 90-minute set seemed to have been organized around new material. Everyone was working from music stands.  
  •   THE DAVID WAX MUSEUM AND TIERNEY SUTTON BRIDGE TRADITION WITH THE HERE AND NOW  |  February 01, 2011
    "Is that the jawbone of an ass?", I ask Suz Slezak in the lobby of the Paradise, giving the question my best Biblical inflection. She'd been playing the strange percussion instrument with her band the David Wax Museum in their opening set for the Carolina Chocolate Drops. "Yes!" she says brightly. "You can get them on eBay!
  •   THE EDUCATION OF GRACE KELLY  |  January 19, 2011
    Legendary 79-year-old alto-saxophonist Phil Woods laughs indignantly when I ask him how he knew 18-year-old alto-saxophonist Grace Kelly was special. "Come on, when you hear it, you know what it is! I've been doing this for 65 years!" Pressed for particulars, he at first says, "Her maturity." Then he demurs. "It's not any one thing. She's got the whole kit."
  •   JOE LOVANO US FIVE | BIRD SONGS  |  January 11, 2011
    It's worth taking Lovano's word that this is not a Charlie Parker "tribute" album.

 See all articles by: JON GARELICK

MOST POPULAR
RSS Feed of for the most popular articles
 Most Viewed   Most Emailed 



  |  Sign In  |  Register
 
thePhoenix.com:
Phoenix Media/Communications Group:
TODAY'S FEATURED ADVERTISERS
Copyright © 2011 The Phoenix Media/Communications Group