Kev Marcus changing ideas and minds regarding what can and can’t be done with both acoustic and electric instruments. Wilmer Baptiste (viola) and Kevin Sylvester (violin) are classically trained players whose stage names are Will B. and Kev Marcus. Their stage show features an ambitious blend of influences from jazz (they took their group name off the album of the same name by jazz violin great Stuff Smith), rock, pop, and hip-hop.
“When kids see our show, it really opens their eyes,” Will B. said during a recent interview. “They are amazed at what you can do with these instruments and the different styles that we can work in.” Now on a tour that includes a Nashville stop at the Ryman Wednesday night and concludes its Tennessee stretch with a visit to Knoxville’s Bijou Theater Friday, Will B. openly acknowledges that a big part of what has made the duo so successful is they’ve heard and absorbed all kinds of musical styles.
“We both know classical music, “he continues. “We were trained on it. But it was the jazz violin that really excited us, as well as the opportunity to work with other great musicians. Most importantly, we developed an on-stage chemistry that works in any situation.”
The two attended the Dillard School of Performing Arts, where they had the same music teacher. They started out covering hip-hop songs on their instruments, catching the attention of Alicia Keys’s manager. After a smash appearance on the Billboard Awards show with Keys, they quickly became stars. They’ve since worked with performers ranging from Lil Wayne and 2 Chainz to touring with Linkin Park’s Mike Shinoda and opening for the Wu-Tang Clan.
Despite a bustling schedule of dates that’s often seen them on the road for over 200 shows a year, Will B. says they are putting together material for a new album later this year. “It’s going to be a bit different sounding, “he added. “We are doing something with the full band together. Experimenting some with the sound. I think the fans will really enjoy it. He concluded by saying one of their future plans involves exploring an idiom they haven’t yet really tried. “We’d like to a blues record eventually. That’s a genre we really haven’t done a lot in and I think we could really do some intriguing things conceptually in that area,”
(Black Violin appears Friday night in Knoxville at the Bijou Theater, 803 South City Street, Knoxville at 7 p.m. Central, 8 p.m. Eastern)
Copyright TNTRIBUNE 2025. All rights reserved.
