Jazz Night with Trombonist and Composer Adam Theis

Composer and trombonist Adam Theis, the leader of the Jazz Mafia musicians' collective of San Francisco, will perform during Cal Poly Jazz Night at 8 p.m. Saturday, May 19, in Harman Hall of the Performing Arts Center’s Christopher Cohan Center.

Theis will play trombone with the University Jazz Band No. 1 in a set of his compositions for hip-hop big band. The University Jazz Band No. 2 and two jazz combos will also perform.

The University Jazz Bands are directed by music Professor Paul Rinzler.

Theis, who has specialized in incorporating hip hop and rap into his jazz big band, was awarded the prestigious Gerbode-Hewlett Foundation Emerging Composers Grant. The award commissioned a one-hour composition by Theis featuring 50 Jazz Mafia musicians at the Palace of Fine Arts as part of the the San Francisco Jazz Festival in 2009.

Theis founded the Jazz Mafia, which consists of the big band Realistic Orchestra, the Shotgun Wedding Quintet, the Shotgun Wedding Hip-Hop Symphony, Supertaster, Joe Bagale’s Dirty Workshop, and Spaceheater, among other groups.

Theis has performed with numerous Bay Area musicians and national acts including Carlos Santana, Bobby McFerrin, KRS-One, Booker T. Jones, Benny Maupin and Lavay Smith.

Tickets at the Performing Arts Ticket Office.