THIEFS

Thiefs is a mix of jazz, hip-hop, electronica, and spoken word! If you ask Thiefs co-leader Keith Witty, this is the essence of 21st century jazz.

A group molded by collaboration, social reflection, and a highly skilled core trio of players, Thiefs is Christophe Panzani (sax, electronics), Keith Witty (bass, electronics), and David Frazier Jr. (acoustic & electric drums).

The transatlantic trio from Paris and New York released Graft last year, an album that the New York Times hails for its “startling mash of natural and synthetic, resonant and fractured” sounds. An evocative odyssey, its subject matter is so pertinent in this political moment: identity, dislocation, migration, and otherness.

A native of New York City, Witty says it is this city of immigrants—a city of people of mixed heritage, where cultures merge—that he most identifies with.

Witty self-identifies as a jazz bassist. While he holds a sincere appreciation for the greats of the straight-ahead craft preserving the jazz genre, Witty’s soul is pulled to form music that expands past the edges of what the genre was to what it can be. In 2000, before graduating from Wesleyan University, he made his recording debut with the Anthony Braxton Quartet. He has performed with David S. Ware, Grammy nominated vocalist Amel Larrieux, the acclaimed East African vocalist Somi, and so many others.

Saxophonist and co-leader Chistophe Panzani is an extremely well respected voice in the European jazz scene. An outsider to the straight-ahead French jazz, Panzani exudes musical autonomy from his jazz roots, though he has been an anchor in French big bands. Panzani is active in groups with wide ranging aesthetics from African music (Ousmane Danedjo), oriental music (Fayçal Salhi) to electro jazz and hip-hop (Electro Deluxe, Hocus Pocus, Gaël Faye, Milk Coffee & Sugar, Guts).

Thiefs’ newest band member, drummer David Frazier Jr., is one to watch. The busy, young player has already shared the stage with major pop-leaning acts including SZA, Gabriel Garzón- Montano, and Hailey Niswanger