Monterey Jazz Festival: The Shotgun Wedding Quintet
Based out of San Francisco, the Shotgun Wedding Quintet are best described as a hip-hop jazz outfit. They’re members of the Jazz Mafia collective, and they’re not afraid to get political.
The Shotgun Wedding Quintet on the Garden Stage at the Monterey Jazz Festival. Photo by Mike Rainey.
Pulling in influences from ska to reggae to klezmer, the Shotgun Wedding Quintet could be viewed as just another novelty band. To make that assumption, however, would miss one important thing: they’re ferociously talented.
Adam Theis of the Shotgun Wedding Quintet plays his bass with his keyboard and trombone. Photo by Mike Rainey.
This talent is best exemplified by Adam Theis, who brings new meaning to the term “one-man band.” Theis would play several notes on his bass, loop them through an effects pedal, then play trombone to his own accompaniment. As if this wasn’t enough, he then used his keyboard and trombone (yes, the physical instruments) to play his bass. One audience member, who had likely just seen Jason Moran play piano with a beer bottle, whispered, “Apparently this is ‘get freaky with the jazz’ night.”
The Shotgun Wedding Quintet featuring vocalist Dublin (R) at the Monterey Jazz Festival. Photo by Mike Rainey.
The Shotgun Wedding Quintet’s dark, sharp-edged, often funny lyrics detail the daily trials of San Francisco life, from the girlfriend that’s “too hip to live” to the frustrations of being used as a derogatory example on the national political stage. Their solid beats had people dancing in front of the stage. They were a Sunday night standout at the Monterey Jazz Festival.
For more coverage of the Monterey Jazz Festival, see our Monterey Jazz Festival category.
6 comments
There is nothing even remotely related to jazz with what these guys do. What is going on here? To me, it sounds more like mediocre hip-hop… the JAZZ mafia, the Monterey JAZZ festival…?? really? I just don’t get it.
Completely disagree Jazzizdead… they may not play straight ahead jazz.. but this band features some of the best jazz musicians in the bay area.
Did you actually hear them play?
Captain Negative has his cape wrapped ’round his pills.
When jazz mafia combine some jazz with rap music, There is no jazz there!!!!!!! you just can’t do that to jazz! I understand that they’re great musicians, but they should not combine jazz with rap!!!!
They should not combine jazz with rap???? Am I missing something here? Are different genres of music not supposed to be fuzed together to create something new every once in a while? Strongly disagree Janet. Sorry.
Apparently some of you haven’t seem them live. Jazz Mafia is comprised of the best, most talented Bay Area jazz musicians. They are incredibly skilled composers and arrangers, and they fuse genres because they can do it so well. No, they don’t play straight jazz as a collective whole, but individually each of them has various bands and projects in which they play other types of more traditional jazz (or soul). The point is, they’re the best Jazz Musicians in the Bay, and to diss them because they fuse genres is missing the point. They play good music.
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