Jazz Mafia's Grateful Brass at Radium Runway

Take a deep breath. Close your eyes. Wait, actually keep them open and keep reading, but imagine in your minds eye an alternate reality in which Jerry, Bobby and Phil came up as horn players instead of guitarists…

Grateful Brass reimagines the iconic music of the Grateful Dead with an instrumentation of brass, drums and vocals (no guitar!). The music digs deep into the Grateful Dead discography with creative re-imaginations infused with the ebullient spirit of New Orleans Second Line, trance-like grooves of Afrobeat, brass-driven energy of Balkan music, and energetic Afro-Cuban polyrhythms, all sitting on top of a heavy foundation of funk.

Grateful Brass is led by Adam Theis who is a current member of The Wolf Pack with Bob Weir & Wolf Bros and whose arrangements are featured in their live shows, as well as two Bob Weir albums released in 2022 (“Bobby Weir & Wolf Bros: Live in Colorado” and “Bobby Weir & Wolf Bros: Live in Colorado Vol. 2”).

Some of the finest musicians on the West Coast have joined Theis in creating this newest offshoot of the Bay Area music collective Jazz Mafia; many who have long collaborated with other artists in the Grateful Dead community like Mickey Hart, Joe Russo's Ain't Dead Yet, Peter Rowan, Reed Mathis, Jackie Greene, and Cold Blood.

Grateful Brass embraces the challenge of carrying on a 50+ year tradition of imagination, creativity, and groovy improvisatory adventures. This loving homage will make you fall in love with Grateful Dead's music all over again, or for the first time.

NOTE: DOORS OPEN/SEATING BEGINS AT 2PM, MUSIC STARTS AT 3PM. Limited seating is available.  Arrive early to grab your spot. Dine from local food trucks and grab drinks and snacks from the Radium Bar sponsored by Almanac Beer.



Opener: The SticklerPhonics

Jazz is an art form defined by surprise and uncertainty, but one safe bet is that Scott Amendola’s presence on the bandstand means that something interesting is about to go down. The Berkeley drummer has provided a turbo-charged flow of creativity for the Bay Area music scene since the mid-1990s both as a ubiquitous sideman (Charlie Hunter, T.J. Kirk, and Jenny Scheinman) and a bandleader with a knack for composing thrilling anthems.

His latest combo is SticklerPhonics featuring tenor saxophonist Raffi Garabedian and trombonist Danny Lubin-Laden. A Modern Micro Brass Band... Jazz, Groove, Funk, and much more! Drums, saxophone, and trombone, why not? With each player in The SticklerPhonics, the concept of working as a unit is crucial. Playing in the pocket, giving each other space, getting the audience to move... Like nothing you’ve heard. Playing original music.