NEDERLAND -- Jeffrey James Franca started his musical trajectory playing guitar, taking lessons around the age of five. He found himself invested in playing music, although he didn’t realize how invested at the time.
Joining his band program in elementary school, he started playing the snare drum. Playing a drum set from his uncle, he completely embraced the instrument, finding the transition from guitar to snare natural.
He studied with jazz pedagogists at Indiana University Bloomington, and at the age of 20, he found himself in Los Angeles, California. There, he performed with producers, film score composers, and other musicians in the area.
He then settled in Washington, D.C., where he says he performed “eight nights a week,” playing with African, jazz, reggae, and funk bands, among many other groups. He’s played with Bill Kreutzmann of The Grateful Dead in his group Billy and the Kids, and since 2011, he has been the drummer and musical director for the group Thievery Corporation.
Since joining the group, Thievery Corporation has been his primary focus as a drummer. It’s been a long time since he led a band, but especially for the 2025 Nederland Jazz and Wine Festival, he has assembled a band dubbed The Shape of Jazz.
The lineup consists of Franca on drums, Joey Porter of The Motet on keys, Matt Jalbert of TAUK on guitar, Hunter Roberts of BTTRFLY Quintet on bass, Nate Miller of the Adam Deitch Quartet on trumpet and tenor sax, and Scott Messersmith of The California Honeydrops on percussion. Going forward, Franca hopes the band can continue with a fluid lineup of musicians.
Franca also performs in an electronic solo project called ETHNO, embracing influences from around the world to emphasize the unique elements every culture brings to their music and the connections that build bridges between them.
Franca loves that performing feels like a constant learning process, involving a lot of soul-searching, listening, and communication between musicians. While it can be difficult “trying to carry the lessons of life and karma and all the wonderful things that we experience daily into a group setting where people are putting their hearts on the line,” the results are incredibly rewarding.
Franca considers jazz an “amazing well of progress within music,” a reactive form of music not just from the musicians performing it, but also from cultural, societal, and political influences around it.
He believes that embracing historical and global perspectives is vital in a continuously changing world, and he loves bringing his musical voice to audiences around the world, using “the gift of music for awareness, for change, for education.”
The Shape of Jazz will debut at the Nederland Jazz and Wine Festival in Chipeta Park on Saturday, August 23. They will be the final performers of the day, playing from 3 to 5 p.m.
The Chantil Dukart Duo will perform from 11 a.m. to noon, then Robert Johnson and The Mark Diamond Trio from noon to 2 p.m., then The Chantil Dukart Duo again from 2 to 3 p.m.
Keep up with Jeff Franca on his Facebook page and at ethno-global.com. To learn more about the Jazz and Wine Festival, be sure to head to nedjazzwine.com.
