Denver Magazine / Denver Magazine Summer 2008 / Renaissance of Sound

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Renaissance of Sound

Jeff Hughes has become a master at melding two opposing ends of the musical spectrum. Witness this hip-hop maestro join forces with the Foo Fighters.

Each note is rich, deep and powerful. The air absorbs the unique harmonization of 18th century classical music with its antithesis, contemporary hip-hop. Maestro Jeff Hughes closes his eyes striking his violin with passion and control. Gliding his fingers across the strings with the agility of Jimi Hendrix, he produces a fusion of music so vibrant, it has a pulse.

Hughes greets his hushed audience with a smile, aware he has nailed every chord, but that is to be expected. Hughes performed The Pretender with the Foo Fighters at the Grammy Awards just four months ago, so while many might assume backing up the Foo Fighters was a once-in-a-lifetime gig, for the 24-year-old Denver native, it was only the beginning.

Selected from thousands of applicants, the instrumental prodigy proved himself worthy of Grammy status. After all, Hughes was performing solo with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra at Boettcher Concert Hall as a fourth-grader. In his teens, he studied Bach, Beethoven and Chopin with principal violist Basil Vendryes of the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, following a strict practice regimen (sometimes up to seven hours a day).

Reviewing his life in chronological order, recalling how he received a full scholarship to the University of Denver's Lamont School of Music, Hughes digresses, talking instead about his violin. Hand-carved in Italy, he cradles it as if it was his most loyal confidant. When he plays, the violin is molded so closely to his body one would think it was an extension of his arm.

With baritone pipes any stadium speaker would envy, Hughes says with pride, "I'll never forget the thrill of standing in front of thousands of record producers, the people who shake the industry. But it was when I spotted musicians, legends like Snoop Dog in particular, the man I've looked up to since I was a kid, I realized that 20 years of practicing has paid off. I mean I was on stage and Snoop Dogg was in the crowd."

All this rap idolizing spoken from a concert violinist? Playing with the Foo Fighters, but being a hip-hop lover? To make sense of who he is and what genre he is in, one wonders what "his music" is. Not the first time he's clarified this confusion, Hughes explains, "When I was in college I began to listening to hip-hop, paying attention to the beats behind the lyrics. I messed around with my violin while the hip-hop played as a drum in the background. It was new-age, a bit off-kilter."

Energized by his new medium, he learned to manipulate hip-hop on the turntables, understanding how DJs pull apart records and control sound. Playing his violin in sync with his pre-produced phonographic beats is what landed him on stage last February with the Foo Fighters.

Standing out among the thousands of applicants, Hughes was chosen as one of 15 instrumentalists to share the stage with the band. That Grammy performance outside the Staples Center garnered Hughes national attention, exposing him to people like Mark Johnson, a Grammy Award-winning producer. Johnson connected Hughes with Keb' Mo' and Big Head Todd and the Monsters, who Hughes later performed with at the Paramount Theatre. His latest appearance during the Denver Nuggets halftime at the Pepsi Center was broadcast live on ESPN. Hughes also will be releasing his debut album late this summer, a culmination of his 21-year devotion to the violin.

Blending what some refer to as "archaic" classical music with contemporary hip-hop beats is what Hughes has perfected and it is a talent the Foo Fighters didn't forget. His highest profile performance to date will be this summer at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, when the Foo Fighters will perform two concerts. Hughes has been asked to jam alongside Dave Grohl and the rest of the band, an honor most musicians only dream about.

Jeff Hughes performs with the Foo Fighters, July 14 and 15, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets for the two Red Rocks performances ($45-49.50) can be purchased online at ticketmaster.com or by phone at 303.830.8497.