Berklee’s Jazz & Hip-Hop Orchestra Performs

Excuse the short notice and Beantown bent of this piece, but tonight the Berklee College of Music’s Jazz Hip-Hop Orchestra (JHO) will take the stage of the school’s Performance Center in Boston to present “Profilin’: Jazz Hip-hop, The Style.”

Directed by Angelamia Bachemin, an assistant professor in the Berklee Percussion Department highly regarded for her knowledge of African and contemporary rhythms, the Jazz Hip-Hop Orchestra does exactly what its name suggests: it blends the two distinctive styles of jazz and hip-hop to form a fresh and unique sound. The JHO performs original music featuring an ensemble that ranges from 14 to 30 members, including rappers, turntablists, a string section, a horn section, and one student on beat box.

On tonight’s special performance, however, the JHO will be joined by an additional string section and a host of break-dancers, who will each be completing their windmills, mos def. A total of 45 performers will take the stage.

In addition to its rousing performances at Berklee over the past few years, the JHO has been hitting the road, performing all over the country and at last year’s Active Arts Youth Conference, with notable hip-hop artists Dead Prez, Medusa, and Suheir Maddad of HBO’s Def Poetry Jam. In May the JHO joined rappers Pharoahe Monch, freestyle legend Supernatural and Cee-Lo for the socially conscious “Beats for Peace” tour, which brought the orchestra to New York City, Washington D.C and Philadelphia.

Tickets for the general public are $5 ($2 for seniors) and are available at the theater’s box office, which you can call at (617) 747-2261. The concert begins at 8:15 p.m.

For more information on this and other Berklee concerts, visit www.berklee.edu.

Originally Published November 18, 2003