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Photos from the Shotgun Wedding Quintet live at the Great American Music Hall on April 4, 2008.

Coming off a huge week of rehearsals and a live album recording session at Bruno’s, Realistic Orchestra was back at it again (and in rare form) for an impressive performance opening for Björkestra at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts on March 6, 2008.

Since the obvious theme of the night was Björk-inspired, the band pulled out one of their old favorites — an orchestral arrangement of Björk’s Venus As A Boy. They completely nailed the performance, it was quite simply awesome, and that solo by Dave Scott in the final minute was just off the hook! There were also some kickin’ guest vocal appearances by Chris McGee and Joe Bagale on a few tracks, and their set was topped off by members of Björkestra joining Realistic for a monster-sized wall ‘o brass blasting away their theme song Mountain Man. Now that was some crazy sh*t!

So, make sure to click on the audio slideshow above for a taste of the night’s outstanding performance, and you can also view more photos in this Flickr Set. Enjoy!

 Venus As A Boy [8:43m]: Play Now | Download

Here’s a killin’ video clip featuring Realistic Orchestra with special guest Dublin on vocals during their recent live album recording session last Tuesday night March 4, 2008. As usual, the Jazz Mafia crew was lighting up Bruno’s just like they always do, so make sure to head down there on Tuesday nights for a good time, and definitely keep an eye on their website for updated info about when their new live album will be released.

Here’s a few photos I made of Brass Mafia playing at the 2007 Fillmore Street Jazz Festival on July 1, 2007.

Joe Cohen, Saxes
Danny Grewen, Trombone/Vocals
Colin Hogan, Keys/Accordion
Pat Korte, Drums/Vocals
Mike Olmos, Trumpet
Joel Ryan, Trumpet
Emily Schmidt, Vocals
Adam Theis, Sousaphone

On Tuesday, June 5th Realistic Orchestra presented it’s Second Annual Prince Birthday Tribute at Bruno’s. The orchestra was in full effect and guest vocalists like Joe Bagale, Chris McGee and Emily Schmidt ripped it up with the band as the night progressed. DJ Daymitreeus was also in the house spinning crates of rare Prince related records all night long, not to mention busting some sick Prince-themed freestyles with the band. The good news is Adam and the guys gave me permission to post my entire audio source, but the bad news is I ended up leaving before the end of the second set. Oh well, there’s still twelve tracks of Realistic goodness available for your listening pleasure! So please enjoy this eclectic mix of original compositions and unique arrangements of some classic Prince by everyone’s favorite big band. And although I didn’t bring my own camera, thankfully someone else did.

 Fringetown [10:38m]: Play Now | Download
 Reactance [10:00m]: Play Now | Download
 Scary [9:08m]: Play Now | Download
 Hard Times [10:02m]: Play Now | Download
 Living for the City [5:16m]: Play Now | Download
 Prince Medley [13:39m]: Play Now | Download
 Musicology [7:06m]: Play Now | Download
 D.M.S.R. [4:55m]: Play Now | Download
 777-9311 [6:49m]: Play Now | Download
 Darling Nikki [9:38m]: Play Now | Download

Adam Theis recently organized an early night of jazz music at Bruno’s in tribute to Miles Davis’s birthday. It was an ambitious undertaking that included some painstaking efforts in the charting department. With only a single rehearsal under their belt, a chunk of the Jazz Mafia crew, along with other talented local musicians (complete lineup below), took on the awe-inspiring 1950’s era Birth of the Cool album in full Nonet form.

The group played Boplicity, Budo, Rouge, Moon Dreams, Move, Venus de Milo, God Child, Israel, and Deception to an attentive and enthusiastic packed house. The only tracks not played from the original album were Jeru, Rocker, and Darn That Dream. You can learn more about the original groundbreaking album at Wikipedia, and please enjoy the MP3 audio and MP4 video samples of Move below.

Joe Cohen, Alto Sax
Charlie Gurke, Bari Sax
Eric Jeckabson, Trumpet & Flugelhorn
Jeff Marrs, Drums
Mike Olmos, Trumpet & Flugelhorn
Mike Rinta, Tuba
Marcus Shelby, Bass
Adam Shulman, Piano
Adam Theis, Trombone

 QuickTime MP4 Video [8:19m]: Play Now | Download
 Windows Media Video [8:19m]: Play Now | Download
 MP3 Audio [8:58m]: Play Now | Download

My Internet’s been down for a couple of weeks, and I’ve queued up a bunch of good shows with this being the first I’m posting. So you can expect me to be light on the commentary and heavy on the content for the next series of podcasts.

To get things started, here’s a six-minute sample from Will Bernard’s recent CD Release party at 12 Galaxies on March 24, 2007. Will was joined on stage by numerous friends and fellow musicians including Wil Blades on the B3, a kicking Jazz Mafia horn section, and many other talented local artists. It was a stellar show, and this clip testifies to that no doubt!

 iPod/QuickTime Video [6:06m]: Play Now | Download
 Windows Media Video [6:06m]: Play Now | Download
 Will Bernard Audio [6:06m]: Play Now | Download

Here’s another installment from the ever-tantalizing, and now revitalized Jazz Mafia Tuesdays live at Bruno’s. It was Mike Olmos’s birthday, and the boys were goin’ off as usual. Low End Theory opened the first set, and then Brass Mafia took the stage for the second set. Here’s a slammin’ fifteen-minute audio sample from the second set for your listening pleasure. And make sure to get yourself down to Bruno’s on Tuesday nights!

 Fela Medley [15:20m]: Play Now | Download