With one completely sold-out two-hour performance of his hip-hop symphony Brass, Bows and Beats earlier this month in San Francisco, Adam Theis went immediately from a local nightclub treasure to a major jazz talent overnight. While critics and fans stumbled over themselves searching for comparisons (Miles Davis and Gil Evans’ Live at Carnegie Hall? Charles Mingus’ Epitaph?), Theis returned home to his Mission District apartment, pulled out some chart paper, and started poring over some Stevie Wonder arrangements. Once a year, Theis leads his Realistic Orchestra in a birthday tribute to Wonder, and he returns home to Sonoma County this weekend to blast through hip-hop infused versions of “Sir Duke” and “Superstition” at the Hopmonk Tavern. How he’ll fit the 20-member ensemble on the stage is anyone’s guess, but one thing’s for sure: the band is in top form, and Joe Bagale—who brought the house down in San Francisco with his desperate “Love Cry”—will whip the dancefloor into a frenzy with songs in the key of life on Friday, May 1, at the Hopmonk Tavern, 230 Petaluma Ave., Sebastopol. 9:30pm. $10-$15. 707.829.7300.Gabe Meline
.May 1: Adam Theis and the Realistic Orchestra at the Hopmonk Tavern
