Cosa Nostra Strings

This week on Fridays Live, we broadcast a live performance our co-present with Noise Pop, featuring Jazz Mafia’s Cosa Nostra Strings. Blending together British Invasion rock, 1980s power ballads, classic funk, Motown, jazz, classical music and more, and includes violinist Shaina Evoniuk, violist Keith Lawrence, cellist Lewis Pazner, multi-percussionist Aaron Kierbel, and Adam Theis on bass and trombone.

Cosa Nostra demonstrates that there are still rich creative rewards for conservatory-trained players who venture off the straight and narrow path
San Francisco Classical Voice

Comprising a unique instrumentation of cello, viola, violin, trombone, bass, and percussion, the Cosa Nostra Strings are an offshoot of Adam Theis’ omnivorous Jazz Mafia conglomeration, performing an energetic mix of chamber music, funk, and jazz with an attitude rooted in punk rock. This exclusive concert is co-presented by the Noise Pop Festival.

Formed in 2015 and featuring a classically trained cadre of superlative musicians including violinist Shaina Evoniuk, violist Keith Lawrence, cellist Lewis Pazner, multi-percussionist Aaron Kierbel, and Theis on bass and trombone, the group has collaborated with Martin Luther, the Roots, Parliament-Funkadelic, Blackalicious, and many others. They were featured at Washington D.C.’s Kennedy Center in collaboration with GRAMMY-winning composer Mason Bates in 2019 and performed with award winning dancers Lil Buck & Jon Boogz in Guadalajara, Mexico for an audience of 10,000.

Their last SFJAZZ performance concentrated on the music of the 1960s, and for their return to the Joe Henderson Lab, the band brings a diverse range of music, from the rock of the British Invasion, 1980s power ballads, classic funk, and Motown, to free jazz, contemporary classical music, and global trends from Latin America, Jamaica, and Cuba.