“It’s not every night that you get to hear a hip-hop DJ go to town on Vivaldi’s ‘The Four Seasons,’ ” writes Punch Shaw in Monday’s (4/10) Fort Worth Star-Telegram (Texas). “That was just one of the highlights of the performance by Black Violin … in its concert Friday…. The band is made up of Kev Marcus on electric violin, Wil B. playing a viola equipped with a pickup, drummer Jermaine McQueen and DJ Dwayne Dayal. ‘We are about breaking stereotypes,’ Marcus told the large and enthusiastic crowd of about 700 [at the Fort Worth theater Casa Mañana]…. Friday’s show … was more about music than messages. The quality of the string players’ work was impressive on every number, whether they were reinventing Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 3, or doing one of their originals, like the easy ballad ‘Magic.’ … The strongest response of the evening was [to] the group’s gorgeous cover of Ed Sheeran’s ‘Thinking Out Loud,’ which featured some outstanding vocals from Wil B. It was an exciting and eclectic night of music, where the DJ sampled Bruno Mars and Beethoven with equal ease, and the string players bounced all over the music map with glee.”
Posted April 11, 2017
