Jazz Mafia

The Jazz Mafia is a young American musical collective that incorporates smaller ensembles into a larger family. The collective is based in the Mission District of San Francisco, California where it writes, plays, and arranges jazz music while incorporating genres such as electronica, soul, funk, big band, orchestral-crossover and hip-hop. Its founder and leader, trombonist and bass guitarist Adam Theis, participates in at least ten member bands, including Realistic Orchestra, Shotgun Wedding Quintet, Shotgun Wedding Hip-Hop Symphony, Jazz Mafia Horns, Supertaster, and The Joe Bagale Band.

Adam Theis grew up in Santa Rosa, California and Sebastopol, California. Theis came from a non musical family, yet he began playing trombone in fourth grade after his neighbor introduced him to the instrument. His music teacher Ken Winett turned him on to different genres including jazz, gospel, and Jamaican pre-reggae rhythms. Theis’ passion for jazz changed his junior year of high school. At the time Theis was in a garage band. One day the band was locked out of their practice room and were left with only horn instruments, so they decided to play their band's songs on the horns. That moment changed his perception of Jazz music.

Theis studied jazz composition at Sonoma State University. His professional career started when he met a member of Grand Junction. They asked Theis and his friend to play for their horn section, becoming valuable members to the group and other groups who needed stable and available horn players. In 1998, Theis moved to San Francisco’s Mission District and founded the San Francisco Jazz Mafia which now consists of The Shotgun Wedding Quintet, The Jazz Mafia Symphony, Realistic Orchestra and many more. The first official group under the umbrella of Jazz Mafia, Realistic, started when various jazz forces in the Bay Area started to collaborate and jam together. Before organizing the various groups under the Jazz Mafia title, Theis participated in a number of Bay Area bands including Cannonball, named after Cannonball Adderley. The horn section of the Jazz Mafia started becoming known for backing up such artists as Carlos Santana, Spearhead, KRS-One, Zion I, and Thomas Dolby.

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