As hip-hop began its ascent in pop culture, many jazz musicians embraced it, trying to infuse its infectious rhythms with an improvisational and harmonic sophistication. While such experiments have mixed results, we’ve seen several groups who continue to try to bridge the chasm between the two genres.

One such band is Blackout, an impressive ensemble that will perform tomorrow night at the Kennedy Center‘s KC Jazz Club. The talented quintet is steeped in jazz tradition, while having a more open-minded and forward thinking approach to music. This ethos comes from Blackout’s leader, vibist/marimbist Stefon Harris.

“I had a quartet, and there were more and more hints of diverse influences,” said Harris. “At a certain point, we needed other voices to really articulate the influences we were hearing.”

Blackout is touring in support of its latest release, Urbanus, an eclectic collection of songs that span from “Gone”, a go-go treatment of Gershwin’s “Gone, Gone, Gone”, to the fiery post-bop of “Blues for Denial”, to the tender melody of “Christina”. This range reflects the diversity of the group’s members, several of whom compose for the ensemble.

“I don’t dominate the ensemble,” Harris emphasized. “We really are a band where everyone can contribute.”