Deneka Peniston

Alum

Brian "Raydar" Ellis

Assistant Professor
Affiliated Departments
Ensemble
hip-hop
bellis1@berklee.edu
Telephone
617-747-2845
Personal Websites
Revive Music Group's website
Raydar Ellis's Instagram

For media inquiries, please contact Media Relations

Brian "Raydar" Ellis B.M. '06 is known as a jack of all trades and master of many. After graduating with a double major in music business and electronic production and design (formerly known as music synthesis), he cofounded Revive Music Group with fellow classmate Meghan Stabile and helped cement the company as a powerful force in New York City's jazz scene. While teaching at Berklee, Ellis has crafted remixes for Blue Note Records, contributed session musician work for artists like Esperanza Spalding and Chris Dave, and served as the DJ for various shows around the world. These experiences have helped inform him in teaching established classes like Turntable Technique and Hip-Hop Ensemble and in the creation of classes like Hip-Hop Songwriting and the J Dilla Ensemble.

Career Highlights
  • Producer, remixer, and session musician for Esperanza Spalding's Radio Music Society (2012), Revive Music/Blue Note Records' Supreme Sonacy Vol. 1 (2015), and Lyric Jones's Jones St (2012) and Love's Trail Mix (2014)
  • DJ for Christian Scott's Stretch Music Festival (2015–2018) as well as various shows with Robert Glasper (2008–present) and Terri Lyne Carrington's Social Science (2017–2018)
  • Emcee for Keyon Harrold and Maimouna Youssef (2019), and Igmar Thomas' Revive Big Band (2010–present)
  • Featured in the New York Times review of Supreme Sonacy (2015) and the Vox Earworm Series documentary on J Dilla (2017)
In Their Own Words

"I want my students to leave my classes feeling empowered and inspired to take the lessons they learned into their own hands and find new ways of expressing themselves. There's nothing better than seeing a student go from not knowing how to do a task to not only doing the task, but having fun in the process."

"My professional background contributes heavily to my teaching. Living in New York City, the birthplace of hip-hop, I'm constantly involved in a vibrant scene that keeps me up to date with different musical approaches. These experiences through performances and recording sessions inform and evolve my lesson plans, giving my students fresh takes on the musical landscape they are about to enter."