Black Violin is performing at The Vets in Providence Saturday, March 30. Tickets and more information at thevetsri.com.
Transcript:
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Luis Hernandez: Kev Marcus and Will Baptiste have been playing and creating music since high school. They are the duo Black Violin. The group has been performing for more than a couple of decades now – actually, going on three. Over that time, they’ve earned Grammy nominations and in 2005 won “Showtime at the Apollo.” But for the two high school friends, bringing classical music to BIPOC children is a big part of their mission. They perform for thousands of kids every year and reach out to kids through the Black Violin Foundation. This week, they come to Rhode Island. Kev Marcus joins me now. Kev, it’s such a pleasure. Thank you so much.
Kev Marcus: It’s a pleasure to be here.
Hernandez: Kev, you and Will attended Dillard High School of Performing Arts in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. What was the experience like for you? How did your time there shape your love of music?
Marcus: Yeah. I mean, our school, Fort Lauderdale, it was like “Fame,” you know. Everyone at the school did something. There were some really big songwriters that came out of that school. There were some great people, even behind the scenes in drama, art. The stage designer for Hamilton went to Dillard during that time. It was just sort of this really great melting pot of extremely diverse students that were bused into this tough neighborhood that had a performing arts school. And it kind of crafted us and molded us into sort of just really versatile artists. So we weren’t just classical. It allowed us to really sort of spread our artistic wings and not just be violinists. We are good at that, sure. And we did hit that from there. But It just really broadened our entire artistry. I think that’s why we make music and art that no one else really can do.
Hernandez: And one of those influences was your music teacher, James Miles, correct?
Marcus: Yes, Mr. Miles. I still can’t call him James, you know. I still call him Mr. Miles, even though I’m 42. Actually, we just played a show in Dallas a couple of weeks back and then had him stand up for sold out a show that gave him a standing ovation. We had him come on stage and conduct a youth orchestra with us for our final song. And it was just like a full circle moment. But I remember the first thing he told me. [Dillard] was also a massive athletic school with, you know, tons of football players. So we’re both big guys. So it’s like, you know, we could have been athletic, but he was just sort of, “Hey, come in here and you let me probably teach you violin. You’ll get a full scholarship to any school you want to go to.” It was just a compelling thing and I was like, well, I know you can get school scholarships playing basketball or football, but I never really thought you could do it playing violin. But he was right, we basically had our pick. So James Miles is sort of a second father for me, someone that just took us to another level. Every time we see him, we make sure we give him his flowers. And for any teacher listening, you just never know what seeds you’re planting can leave students, you know? I’ll always forever be grateful.
Hernandez: I remember a story you told me when we interviewed you once years back, [about] how people will see you and they’ll judge you. They’ll say, “Well, here’s this very large Black man,” because you look like a football player. And then they’re surprised because they find out, well, you play violin. And I wonder if that still happens, If people still judge you and when they see you.
Marcus: Oh yeah. All the time. I mean, I think we’ve made a fantastic career off that preconception. Every night we get to go through this process of just showing a group of people something that they’ve never seen before and never heard before, and it’s awesome. My favorite part of being a violinist is that I’m not supposed to do it. I don’t look like I should do it, and I don’t do it the way that most violinists do it. I think that’s the thing that stands apart for Black violinists. That’s our entire approach. We’re able to change the way people perceive what a violin can do, what a Black man can do, and what is even possible in the world. So for us, we’re just like, “Okay, can we do something that no one’s ever seen before?” And now we’re able to almost, like, weaponize people’s misconceptions or preconceptions against them. And then afterwards, they’re like, “Wow, I didn’t even know that was possible!”
Hernandez: I wonder what it’s like when you play and perform in front of kids and they see that for the first time and say, “Oh, wait a minute. I could do that, too. That looks really cool!” What is it like when you see kids see you for the first time doing this?
Marcus: I mean, it’s great, man. They light up, you know. Our show is about “What do you love to do?” If you could take what you love, find a slightly different way to present it to the world that you can do over and over and over. You get paid to do something you love and we want you to do that. Whatever it is, skateboard, Snapchat, English, writing, graffiti, art, whatever. You know what it is. Luis, you know what it is. I feel like you’re living your love and not everybody gets the chance to do that and we don’t teach kids that. We’re just like, “Hey, you know, do good at school, get your straight A’s and you can go to college and get jobs. No. What makes you happy? What do you love to do?
Hernandez: I read you’re working on a new album and I wanted to know what the creative process is like for you and for Will, again, considering the touring that you do.
Marcus: I think that the concept that we are working on now – it doesn’t have a title currently – but the idea is this idea about being free, but not necessarily freedom. When you think about freedom, you think about freedom versus injustice, right? This album is more about, you know, free to make your own choices, free to make your own mistakes and free to just exist and be the person you want to be, but not necessarily as it relates to crime and injustice. And that’s the whole trick to making albums. Albums are much harder than people think [laughs]. It’s much more difficult to create something out of thin air than it is to perform something that’s already created. This is our sixth album. We’ve been doing this 20 years. So, you know, it’s sort of like, “Well, what do we want to say now?” Is this a departure or is it a graduation? Can it be a little of both? Around the sixth album, things start getting experimental. Think about your favorite artists and their fifth or sixth album. You’ve already got the classics. We already banked those. Now it’s like, what else we can do may not be what our fans are looking for. It might be something for us or we could try to really try to internalize and say, “Hey, what’s the next thing for our fans?”
Hernandez: Kev Marcus, one of the duo along with Will Baptiste in the group, Black Violin. They’re performing at The Vets in Providence March 30. Learn more about it on our website. Kev, it’s such a pleasure. I had so much fun. Thank you so much.
Marcus: Always good speaking with you, Luis. Appreciate you.
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