The O-town Scene

February 24, 2011

The O-town Scene - Oneonta, NY

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Concert Review A cappella legends give a lively performance A cappella legends The Persuasions took the Okun Theater stage at SUNY Delhi, and lead singer Dave Revels didn’t hesi- tate to jokingly ask bass dynamo Jimmy Hayes about his pulse. This, right before they accelerated their audience’s collective heart-rate with “We Still Ain’t Got No Band,” an affably defiant mantra of sorts for this most thoroughly (and enduringly) music group. Each Persuasion, outfitted in a regal purple suit, had his own awesomely versatile vocal instrument. Warming the Delhi crowd was what The Persuasions were all about Saturday, Feb. 19. Outside as wind whirled and snowflakes streamed, those harmony-hungry fans hardy enough to attend bore witness to “The Pers” as a cohesive force of nature in their own right, their joined tones cascading and illuminating. The only effect spell-bindingly comparable to their voices when they first swelled together at each song’s beginning was perhaps when they settled like one intricately layered sigh at its close. The animated, expressive lead singing of Revels was matched in its sharpness by his nimble, sometimes pointed stage presence. When microphone problems arose (they proved to be somewhat of an issue throughout), Revels hilariously suggested that the sound man might be seeking stardom and stage time. The spotlight was often inevitably on the incredibly charismatic “Sweet” Joe Russell, one of the group’s founding members. He began the concert seated on a silver stool, but soon rose to march alongside indefatigably striding partners in song B.J. Jones and Raymond Sanders. Before fans knew it, Russell was making his way to the stairs at the side of the stage. Revels is an alumnus of The Drifters, but it was Russell who ventured out into the audience, like some master traveling musical salesman instinctively hitting the road, seek- ing a cappella collaboration wherever he could find it. Quintessential Persuasion that he is, a mis- chievously good-natured Russell had his work cut out for him “persuading” any petrified fan to join in _ when one intrepid young lady did, Russell heartily grooved along to her vocals, as if having hit a talent search jackpot (as a reward for her considerable The only effect spell- bindingly comparable to their voices when they first swelled together at each song’s beginning was perhaps when they settled like one intricately layered sigh at its close. courage, Revels gave her not one but two Persuasions CDs later on in the show). During their rendition of The Tymes’ 1961 classic “So Much in Love,” the smoky, crackling richness that sang one line would streak up to shocking, sugared high notes in the next. The falsetto that proclaimed “you make me feel brand new” sounded freshly polished and squeaky clean. There was an insistent _ and infectious _ urgency to the Persuasions’s 15-plus song set. Throughout, Hayes’s grounding basso profundo felt almost seismic, too resonantly expansive for one man to generate. Being that it was a cold, snow-blown Saturday, the Persuasions reasoned, they would not be able to get home in time for church on Sunday. “So we’re going to go to church tonight,” Hayes said. The gospel genre certainly registered as Joe Russell sang “If I Could Touch The Hem of His Garment,” and the Persuasions put new spring into the step of “When The Saints Go Marching In.” Ray Sanders definitely infused his take on “Some Kind of Wonderful” with a preacher’s charged enthusiasm. Revels made sure to give a nod to military servicemen before The Persuasions headed into “500 Miles From Home” _ the sadness of separation is rarely so atmospherically evoked, nor so stirringly rousing in its attempts to soothe. As The Persuasions got set to close with the Fred Parris/Five Satins show-stopper “In The Still of the Night,” they urged the audience to sing along. This mass of vocalists on-stage is one lasting image from a mighty memorable night. Another is more constant: Joe Russell anchoring the flanking Persuasions from his seat. With Ray Sanders and B.J. Jones to Russell’s right, Dave Revels and Jimmy Hayes on his left, the Persuasions huddled as if marking off a recreated Brooklyn streetcorner, the men making for a kind of vital bedrock, a cornerstone to a cappella’s infrastructure. Make no mistake, however, these Persuasions possess powerful (perhaps harmonically synchronized) pulses _ and their performance reminded anyone within earshot that we each have one as well. _ Sam Benedict Feb. 24, 2011 O-Town Scene 21

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