Invisible Hemisphere

Happy Birthday

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

Boplicity (COVER)

These are pieces arranged on Ableton Live using drum samples, live cello parts, sliced cello parts, and vocal samples. These pieces are not complete, I would like them to have vocal and  instrumental solos. I will eventually add Cello parts to many, but I am open to anyone wanting to add or remove things. just DM me for the stems. Thanks and enjoy.

On A Day

Nervous Tic

MidFright

MeMeandMe

Ludwig

Foriegn Hubby

Double Stuffed

Founded in 2000, the collective known as Jazz Mafia is one of the most ubiquitous names in innovate music on the West Coast, including such artists as: The Shotgun Wedding Quintet, Realistic Orchestra, Joe Bagale, Jazz Mafia Symphony, Brass Bows & Beats and founder Adam Theis. 
 This talented group of musicians seamlessly combines Latin polyrhythms, boom-bap rhymes, melancholy ballads, swinging jazz and blistering solos, while at the same time adhering to symphonic structural elements. All spun together in the spirit of a Jazz Era big band- but conducted with a maestro's sense of timing, timbre, and mood- the experience is akin to watching the New York Philharmonic back a street corner B-Boy battle in the heart of downtown Oakland.

The "Brass, Bows & Beats" premiere sold out two shows at the Palace Of Fine Arts as well a sold out a six-show run at Yoshi's in San Francisco. The 60 piece incarnation of Jazz Mafia's "Brass, Bows & Beats" that premiered at the Palace of Fine Arts was recorded and released as a live album in June 2010. 2010 has been a break through year for Jazz Mafia, with performances at the Newport Jazz Festival, Montreal Jazz Festival, Playboy Jazz Festival (Hollywood Bowl), and the Monterey Jazz Festival. 

The original 60-piece Palace ensemble can be pared down to a tighter core of 40 to accommodate and emphasize more intimate settings. The piece marks a coming of age for The Jazz Mafia as a new voice in composition. Jazz Mafia Symphony is a monumental achievement displaying an exciting barrage of compositional elements, which the composers ingeniously weave together through a complex blend of skill, talent and courage. An eager and quickly growing global audience awaits their further contributions. A creative force on the Bay Area music scene for more than a decade, the loose-knit band of jazz cats, MCs, arrangers and composers known collectively as The Jazz Mafia, is fast emerging as the most prolific musical organization on the West Coast. Launching some of the Bay Area's most innovative and stylistically expansive ensembles, these musicians contribute their varied talents to a cross-cultural mix of new beats and melodies, blended with instrumental virtuosity. The Jazz Mafia Horns have recorded in the studio with Carlos Santana and backed artists such as Zion-I, KRS One, and Thomas Dolby. Other bands in the JM pantheon include The Shotgun Wedding Quintet, the incredible Realistic Orchestra, Supertaster with Joe Bagale, Brass Mafia, Jazz Mafia Trio, Spaceheater, and The Shotgun Wedding Hip Hop Symphony. With top-tier brass players and an always premium rhythm section, and dealing in jazz, funk, hip hop, soul, R&B and more, The Jazz Mafia form one of the most powerful assemblies of virtuosic performers on the West Coast.

Mama - Realistic Orchestra feat. Uriah Duffy & Carlos Caro

Jazz Mafia

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