When a bassist who's held down the low end for Stan Getz, Jim Hall, Chet Baker, and Mel Lewis walks into a room, the entire history of jazz walks in with him. Steve LaSpina doesn't just play upright bass—he channels four decades of New York City's most hallowed bandstands into every note, every walking line a direct connection between Little Jumbo's Monday night intimacy and the countless legendary sessions that came before.
LaSpina grew up marinating in dance band DNA in Wichita Falls, Texas, studied with Ray Brown (because if you're going to learn bass, you might as well learn from God), and then spent the better part of four decades becoming the kind of first-call player that legends call when they need someone who actually listens. This is bass playing as musical archaeology—every choice informed by decades of conversation with masters, every line both honoring tradition and pushing it forward.
For this quintet, LaSpina assembles some serious mountain firepower: Dr. Tim Fischer bringing USC-trained precision and genre-blurring audacity on guitar, Jacob Rodriguez channeling world-traveling saxophone wisdom from San Antonio street corners to Michael Bublé's Grammy stages, Alan Hall on drums (a four-decade veteran who's bent time behind Lee Konitz and Cirque Du Soleil), and Dr. Bill Bares on piano—Harvard's former NEH Distinguished Professor who turned a lip injury that ended his trumpet career into a keyboard calling that's reshaped jazz education across New England and now UNC Asheville.
Featuring
Born in the dance band DNA of Wichita Falls, Texas, Steve LaSpina transformed family musical heritage into a New York City bass legacy that spans four decades and reads like a who's who of jazz history. From Chicago's South Side clubs to Manhattan's most prestigious stages, LaSpina's upright and electric bass have provided the rhythmic backbone for legends including Stan Getz, Jim Hall, Mel Lewis, and Chet Baker. This is bass playing as musical archaeology, where every walking line connects present moments to past masters, where each note choice reflects decades of studying with giants like Ray Brown while forging his own path through the modern jazz landscape. LaSpina doesn't just play bass—he translates the entire history of American music into four-string conversations, proving that the best rhythm section players aren't just timekeepers, they're time travelers who can make any room feel like it's connected to every jazz club that ever mattered.
Dr. Tim Fischer exists in that rarified space where USC doctoral precision meets street-level groove, where European touring experience fuses with American jazz DNA to create something entirely his own. This guitarist-composer-educator doesn't just play jazz fusion—he reimagines what happens when classical technique meets electronic experimentation, when rock energy collides with bebop sophistication. From Los Angeles studios to St. Louis classrooms to his current faculty position at Coastal Carolina University, Fischer has built a career on proving that the most interesting music happens at the intersection of seemingly incompatible styles. His collaboration with Brian Felix on 'Level Up' and his co-authorship of 'Jazz Guitar Duets' demonstrate a musician who understands that teaching and performing aren't separate activities—they're two sides of the same creative coin, each informing the other in an endless cycle of musical discovery.
From San Antonio street corners to Michael Bublé's Grammy-winning stages, Jacob Rodriguez has woven a musical tapestry that spans continents and genres. This Manhattan School of Music alumnus doesn't just play saxophone—he channels stories through reed and breath, whether he's painting midnight hues with Ambrose Akinmusire in Brooklyn's underground scene or igniting arena crowds alongside pop royalty. Now nestled in Asheville's Blue Ridge embrace, Jacob has become the valley's secret weapon, teaching the next generation at UNC Asheville while moonlighting with everything from Hard Bop Explosion's fire-breathing quintet to the mystical rhythms of Coconut Cake's traditional Congolese explorations. His baritone sax doesn't just anchor the low end—it rumbles with the wisdom of a world traveler who's learned that the most profound music happens when you're brave enough to blend your influences into something entirely new.
For over four decades, Alan Hall has been the heartbeat behind some of the most adventurous music on three continents, transforming drum sets into portals between the earthbound and the ethereal. From intimate European clubs with alto saxophone legend Lee Konitz to the surreal theatrical landscapes of Cirque Du Soleil and Teatro Zinzanni, Hall doesn't just keep time—he bends it, stretches it, and occasionally makes it disappear entirely. His sticks have danced behind Paul McCandless's haunting oboe meditations and Art Lande's keyboard explorations, while his seven-year tenure at Berklee College of Music shaped countless young musicians who now carry his rhythmic DNA across the globe. This isn't just a drummer who's logged tens of thousands of miles touring Europe, the USA, and Canada—this is a percussion philosopher who understands that every snare crack and cymbal wash is a conversation between tradition and revolution, between what jazz was and what it could become. His two published drum books and magazine articles serve as love letters to an instrument that, in Hall's hands, becomes less of a timekeeper and more of a time traveler.
From Nebraska to Harvard to Little Jumbo, Dr. Bill Bares embodies the scholarly soul of jazz—a NEH Distinguished Professor whose academic credentials from Amherst College read like a jazz education manifesto written in political science and piano poetry. When a lip injury ended his All-American trumpet dreams, Bares discovered that sometimes life's detours lead to destinations you never knew you were seeking. Now directing jazz studies at UNC Asheville after teaching stints at Harvard, Brown, Berklee, and the New England Conservatory, he transforms every performance into a master class where bebop meets book learning, where chord changes become cultural commentary. His scholarly articles in American Music and Jazz Research Journal prove that the deepest musical truths emerge when academic rigor meets artistic passion, making every Little Jumbo appearance a reminder that jazz isn't just entertainment—it's American intellectual history told in real time through eighty-eight keys.