instruments: trombone, 7 String bass, sousaphone and keyboards/synth, looper/electronics
bands: the Shotgun Wedding Quintet and Hip-Hop Symphony, Realistic Orchestra, Realistic, Jazz Mafia Trio, Brass Mafia
Adam Theis has been an active member of the San Francisco Bay Area music scene for the past 10+ years. Growing up in Santa Rosa, California, Adam helped create a Jazz music awareness in the North Bay by leading many successful projects that included The Adam Theis Ensemble, Savoy Swingers and Cannonball. After graduating from Sonoma State University with a degree in Jazz Composition & Performance Adam hit the road with some of the world’s best Ska bands; The Skatelites (1998/1999), Let’s Go Bowling (1998/1999), and The Specials (2001). While performing with these well-established acts, Adam’s main concentration was always on forming his own groups. In 1998 he moved to San Francisco’s Mission District and began founding the San Francisco JAZZ MAFIA which now consists of Realistic, The Shotgun Wedding Quintet, Cannonball, Crossfire Crew, The Shotgun Wedding Hip-Hop Symphony, The Low End Theory and the award winning Realistic Orchestra.
Adam has also been an important part of other Bay Area bands such as Brass Monkey, Boostamonte, United Brass Workers, Marcus Shelby Orchestra, Mitch Marcus Big Band, The Contemporary Jazz Orchestra, St Jude’s Memorial Dance Band and has also been seen on stage performing with Carlos Santana, Bobby McFerrin, Lyrics Born, KRS One, Bernard Purdie, Ruben Wilson, Clyde Stubblefield, Booker T. Jones, Benny Maupin (Headhunters, Miles Davis), Spearhead, Vinyl , Jesus Diaz y QBA, Bobby McFerrin, Felonious, O.G.D., Zigaboo Modeliste, Jacob Fred Jazz Odessy, Grant green Jr., Benevento Russo Duo, Galactic, Ok Go, Reggae Angels, Pep Love (Hieroglyphics), Lavay Smith, John Sinclair, Natasha Miller/Bobby Sharp and Alphabet Soup to name a few.
Adam’s Horn section, Jazz Mafia Horns, is one of the most in demand sections in the Bay Area and has appeared on recordings with Zion-I, Lyrics Born, Crown City Rockers, Bing Ji Ling, Joyo Velarde, Spencer Day, The Velvet Teen, The Disco Biscuits, The Grouch, Mikah 9, Reggae Angels, DJ Zeph, Rachel Efron, Eric Lindell, Will Bernard’s Motherbug, Raw Deluxe and Grippo “Circuits”. In 2007 The Jazz Mafia horns began collaborating and touring with 80s electro legend Thomas Dolby and released “Thomas Dolby and the Jazz Mafia Horns LIVE at SXSW”. Adam is comfortable playing the trombone on anything from Be-Bop to Electronica, while at the same time making live loops of his 7-string bass, didgeridoo and a wide array of electronic instruments.
Adam has earned many prestigious awards, including a scholarship offer to the Berklee School of Music in Boston and winning the Jazziz Magazine’s “Brass on Fire” contest as one of the best 10 compositions by an unsigned artist in 1997. Realistic Orchestra was nominated for Best Jazz Group in the Sf Weekly’s Best of the Bay in 2003 and won the award for best Jazz Group in 2004. Currently Adam has been focusing on his touring band “The Shotgun Wedding Quintet” as well as the highly attended “Jazz Mafia Tuesday” concert series, now in it’s 7th year which has been voted “Best Live Music Weekly Night” in the SF Weekly in 2006 and 2007.
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