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instruments: trombone, 7 String bass, sousaphone and keyboards/synth, looper/electronics
bands: the Shotgun Wedding Quintet and Hip-Hop Symphony, Realistic Orchestra, Brass Mafia, Supertaster, Joe Bagale's Dirty Workshop, J Boogie's Dubtronic Science, adam Theis Ensemble.
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 Orchestra, The Shotgun Wedding Quintet, The Shotgun Wedding Hip-Hop Symphony, Supertaster, Joe Bagale's Dirty Workshop, Spaceheater and many more.
Adam has performed with hundreds of the best Bay Area musicians and National acts including: 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., Peter Rowan, Benevento Russo Duo, Galactic, Ok Go, Reggae Angels, Pep Love (Hieroglyphics), Bicasso (Living Legends), Lavay Smith, John Sinclair, Natasha Miller and Alphabet Soup to name a few. Adam's Horn section, the 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, j Boogie's Dubtronic Science, DJ Vadim, Bing Ji Ling, Joyo Velarde, Spencer Day, The Velvet Teen, The Disco Biscuits, The Grouch, Mikah 9, Reggae Angels, DJ Zeph and Azeem, Rebirth, Jennifer Jons, Lunar Heights, Chali2Na, Rachel Efron, Eric Lindell, Will Bernard's Motherbug, Headnodic, Raw Deluxe, Zachary Ross, Natasha Miller 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".
In 2008 Adam's life took on a whole new direction being awarded the prestigious Gerbode-Hewlett Foundation "Emerging Composers" Grant. In the Grant comission Adam is composing all new music for a one hour concert featuring a 50 piece version of musicians from the Jazz Mafia in an event at the Palace of Fine arts presented by SF Jazz, on April 18th, 2009.
Adam is comfortable playing the trombone on anything from Be-Bop to Electronica, while at the same time he will play the 7-string bass, didgeridoo and a wide array of electronic instruments. It's a performance not to be missed. 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 8th year which has been voted "Best Live Music Weekly Night" in the SF Weekly in 2006 and 2007.
