An instrumental creation reflecting the sadness and wonderment of my own father son relationship.  

Reflections Of My Father 3

Recorded at Biscuits & Blues, San Francisco, CA 

Robert Stewart w/ Janice Maxie Reid & Lloyd Gregory - What A Wonderful World

those in need have to step forward…
They have to sing, if they didn’t sing, everyone
would walk past, as if they were fences or trees.
That’s where you can hear good singing.
…god himself comes and stays a long time
—Rainer Maria Rilke

In order to win membership in the human race, we are asked to pay a "small" price: everything. 
—Morris Berman


The Blessing Kiss

For the hopeless and the hated
All the broken hearted
The doomed and the fated
The bound and the parted
For all the sick and twisted
Defamed and deformed
The burned and the blistered
The shunned and the scorned

There's not much I can do,
But I promise you this
There is such a thing in this world
As the blessing kiss

On the town with my woman
Ambushed by a curse
Men hit on her ask'n: 
"You his sister or his nurse?"
Underestimated,
As if I don't exist,
So humiliated
My spirit is at risk

And there's not much I can do,
But I'll promise you this
There is such a thing in this world
As the blessing kiss

I need you to see me
As Beauty saw the Beast
I'll keep on through the famine
Dreaming of the feast
The blessing kiss received or given
In and of the soul
Is a sacred confirmation
Whatever shape you appear to be in
You are whole

The blessing kiss received or given
Each and every one
Confirms the soul's condition 
And when the Gods wanna hear real song
This is where they come

To the hopeless and the hated
All the broken hearted
The doomed and the fated
The bound and the parted
To all the sick and twisted
Defamed and deformed
The burned and the blistered
The shunned and the scorned

It's a rookery of outcast
A choir of misfits
The only cost of entry:
Everything there is.
There's nothing else to do,
But I'll promise you this
There is such a thing in this world
As the blessing kiss

Recorded on an iPad Air 1 iOS 9.x using Apogee MiC and Jam. The acoustic guitar "Little Honey" is a Santa Cruz Firefly. The electric Guitar "The Durango Dude" is a customized Durango Guitarworks Contender. The harmonica is a Hohner Thunderbird low C diatonic harmonica played in 4th position.
Everything was recorded in Auria and then Auria Pro. Other apps used were
iFretless Bass
Drumperfect Pro (beta)
Bias FX / Bias Amps

The Blessing Kiss

Day 20
song: Mama
artist: Realistic Orchestra feat. Uriah Duffy & Carlos Caro
written, orchestrated and produced by Adam Theis

Personnel:
Uriah Duffy - electric bass solo
Carlos Caro - bongo, congas and timbale solos
Joel Behrman - trombone solo
Erik Jekabson - trumpet solo
Matt Nelson - tenor sax solo
Evan Francis - alto sax
Joe Cohen - alto sax
Sheldon Brown - tenor sax
Paul Hanson - Bassoon
Doug Rowan -bari sax
Dave Scott - lead trumpet
Mike Olmos - trumpet
Joel Ryan - trumpet
Adam Theis - trombone
Danny Grewen - trombone
Marc Bolin - bass trombone
Jon Monahan - guitar
Colin Hogan - keyboards
George Ban Weiss  - upright bass
Eric Garland - drums

One of the many tunes I composed for Realistic Orchestra during our 8 year long Tuesday night Jazz Mafia residency where this group performed once a month. Having a regular outlet to try out new compositional ideas was an amazing opportunity to be a part of. I spent many sleepless nights working on these sort of overly-ambitious quirky songs knowing that a band with some of the best and most supportive musicians would all be there for our regular soundcheck/rehearsals to run all the new material that me and the other hell-bent composers would bring in. This is where I truly went to school for big band arranging(Sorry Sonoma State but you wouldn’t even let me into the jazz orchestra arranging class!). 

The title “Mama” comes from one of the many inside jokes the band developed in it’s many years of playing shows and late night hangs...If a pretty lady walked into the club, you could often hear one of the guys in the band softly and kind of nerdily utter “Mama”...I guess in a way it’s the introverted jazz-guy version of “Hey baby, you lookin’ mighty fine tonight, what’s yo name!?” Of course, no attractive females were ever actually engaged with in our manner, as they couldn’t actually hear what we were even saying. Anyway, it made for a nice memorable title for the band, which is sometimes all you need to simply keep the songs from getting mixed up in a book of over 150 charts.

I usually don’t write songs with more than 1 or 2 solos in them but for some reason this one really led me in that direction. I didn’t start with a lead sheet or any sort of demo, I just sat down and started composing and orchestrating.This is an approach that I don not recommend for composers who’d like to maximize the use of their writing time! ...but sometimes it does yield interesting results (and really lonnnnnng tunes like this one). The trumpet solo/soli is a concept I heard used first by Gil Evans where you have a soloist shredding away and then out of nowhere they are playing an ensemble rhythm with the rest of their section , maybe doing some call and response with them...blurring the lines between improvised and composed is always fun for me and challenges these amazing musicians in new ways as well.

When we recorded this we intentionally left 2 sections open for features - one for my homie and friend of the band Uriah Duffy on Electric bass and another for our vibraphone player MNO who had relocated to France in 2005. For some reason the MNO solo didn’t end up happening, I think I wanted something a little more in your face -  so I started to think of percussionists and one of the baddest dudes in the Bay (and Cuba where he’s from) came to mind: Carlos Caro. The addition of these two incredible performers puts this song over the top into one of my favorite collaborative tracks we’ve ever done. Uriah’s bass solo was recorded back in 2008 and I tracked Carlos just a few weeks ago here at the Compound as the final piece of the puzzle called Mama. 

Oh and I guess I should say something about the “weird sounds” that happen right after the percussion solo. Actually, nah.
- Adam Theis 2/20/16

Recorded March 3rd, 2008  at 20th & Mission in SF by Chris Fletcher.
Produced by Adam Theis
Mixed and Mastered by Chris Fletcher.
©2016 Jazz Mafia Recordings

Mama - Realistic Orchestra feat. Uriah Duffy & Carlos Caro

Inspired by the question "What do women see in Mr. T(rump)?"
It hearkens back to the songwriting style of The Bobs, though this time it ain't acapella.  Kind of a Goldfinger-y big band 60's pop vibe.  Old pal Laurie Amat (famed as an avant-gardist, collaborator with The Residents, and singer of overall repute) signed on to be the lead singer, and delivered big-time, with a big, bold, brassy sound.  You can share it, post it, download it - it's yours to keep as our gift to you!

Reflections Of My Father 3

David Sturdevant