Mike Holstein trio
Performing live in the corner at Little Jumbo, 241 Broadway, Five Points, Asheville. No cover. Pull up a seat.
Admission no cover · ever
For most of his life, Mike Holstein has been the man at the bottom of the band, the bassist other players reach for when a song needs a floor to stand on, a founding force behind the composer collectives that gave Asheville's original-music scene its spine. Tonight he sets the bass down. He leads instead from the vibraphone and guitar, the instruments he first picked up as a child long before the bass ever found him.
Building a band around the vibraphone is a revealing choice. The instrument is metal and air and motor, a set of bars that ring and keep ringing, each note blooming and decaying on its own slow clock, leaving the harmony suspended and half-dissolved so the silence between phrases carries its own weight. With the low end now in Danny Iannucci's hands and Joe Enright's brushes moving through the room like weather, Holstein is free to float above the music rather than hold it up from underneath.
Mike Holstein came to the bass late, which is to say he came to it after guitar, violin, piano, and drums — after learning, from early childhood, that music is a language you speak with your whole body before you ever settle on a mother tongue. When he finally picked up the bass at Western Carolina University, something clicked into place. Within a few years he was one of the most sought-after players in the Southeast, and he's been a quiet pillar of the Asheville jazz scene ever since.
Holstein helped found the Jazz Composers Forum in 2001, a nonprofit built around a simple but radical premise: that original instrumental jazz deserves a home, documentation, and an audience willing to really listen. That commitment to composition, to music made with intention rather than formula, runs through everything he does. He has shared stages with Randy Brecker, Ingrid Jensen, Joe Locke, and Frank Kimbrough, and his recordings appear on Art of Life Records alongside players who treat the bandstand as a place to say something that hasn't been said before.
Danny Iannucci embodies the spirit of musical reinvention, carrying his Western Carolina University jazz education and nearly two decades of Asheville immersion into every bass line he lays down. Since earning his bachelor's degree in music with a focus on jazz in 2010, this Piedmont-born bassist has woven himself into the fabric of Asheville's local music scene, bringing his collaborative spirit and improvisational skills to diverse audiences through years of freelance performances with local bands.
Whether anchoring intimate jazz sessions at Little Jumbo or supporting the next generation of mountain musicians, Iannucci represents the best of Asheville's musical ecosystem—where academic training meets street-level groove, where technique serves community, and where a bassist's role extends far beyond just holding down the bottom end. His approach to music mirrors his philosophy in all endeavors: rooted in forming meaningful connections, guided by genuine care, and delivered with a personal touch that makes every musical conversation feel both professional and deeply human.
In a town filled with world-class musicians, Iannucci proves that some of the most essential music happens when formal training meets authentic mountain spirit, creating the kind of rhythmic foundation that allows entire musical communities to flourish.
Joe Enright transforms every drum kit into a storytelling machine, his sticks weaving rhythmic narratives that bridge the gap between Asheville's mountain soul and metropolitan jazz sophistication. This is drumming as architectural engineering, where every kick, snare, and cymbal crash serves both the song's immediate needs and its deeper emotional blueprint. Enright understands that great drumming isn't about technical flash—it's about becoming the heartbeat that allows other musicians to find their most authentic voices. His approach reflects the best of Asheville's musical spirit: deeply rooted in tradition yet unafraid to explore uncharted rhythmic territories. Whether providing the subtle brush work that makes a ballad breathe or laying down the propulsive grooves that turn a jazz standard into something urgently contemporary, Enright embodies the drummer's sacred responsibility to serve as both timekeeper and catalyst, proving that the best percussionists don't just keep time—they create the spaces where musical magic becomes inevitable.